Connella sails into new responsibilities at Union Bank.

SCOTT Connella, recently promoted to market president of Union Bank of California N.A., got out of selling luxury yachts just as the recession of the late 1980s was starting to take its toll.

The 44-year-old La Jolla native has sailed since he was a child, taught sailing as a summer camp counselor and raced in high school. By the time he was in college at the University of California, Irvine, he was a luxury yacht broker at Crow's Nest Yacht and Ship Brokers.

"I was getting married and expecting our first child," said Connella. He sold yachts for six years after graduating in 1981 with a bachelor's in economics.

Meantime, he became a certified financial planner through a two-year distance education program. He joined Union Bank's management trainee program in 1987.

Connella rose to senior vice president in the Los Angeles office by 1999 and went from managing the accounts of middle-sized commercial borrowers to his current role managing three regional vice presidents and the credit underwriting group for the rapidly growing Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Inland Empire territory.

Connella prefers finance to selling yachts. "With boats, you build a relationship, sell a boat, then they're gone," Connella said. "On average, people keep boats for seven years."

Connella is among five executives promoted on the heels of Union's acquisitions of four banks, including the Business Bank of California in the Inland Empire, which added six locations and a slew of new accounts to Connella's territory. Union Bank of California has 298 branches statewide and is the primary subsidiary of UnionBanCal Corp., a holding company with assets of $46.1 billion.

Connella lives with his wife and daughters in Costa Mesa, and with one daughter running track and two on soccer teams, he no longer finds time for sailing.