Umpqua Bank announced its expansion into the state of Arizona with the hire of Kevin Gillette to build and lead the bank's newly formed Phoenix middle market banking office. Gillette is one of Arizona's top banking leaders with more than 25 years of experience helping banks establish and grow commercial and corporate offices across the region.

According to Richard Cabrera, Executive Vice President and Head of Middle Marketing Banking at Umpqua Bank, the new office and Gillette's addition reflect Umpqua's strategic priority to grow its middle market presence across the Western U.S. and position the bank to have an immediate impact in the market.

"Our commitment to every market we enter and to our customers' success starts with having high-caliber leaders in place with deep relationships and knowledge of the region's industries," said Cabrera. "Kevin has built some of the most successful middle market teams in the Western U.S. in Phoenix, and we're thrilled he's on board to help establish our presence and reputation in the marketplace."

Throughout his career, Gillette has focused on helping banks build diversified commercial portfolios in new markets. He most recently spent the last decade launching and building Bank of the West's commercial operations in Phoenix. During his 15-year tenure at Bank of America, Gillette held various leadership roles and built one of the most successful corporate banking offices in the Western U.S. He also has significant expertise supporting businesses in some of Arizona's most important sectors, including health care, technology and distribution services, which are specialty areas for Umpqua.

"We're excited to join Arizona's vibrant business community and see tremendous opportunity to leverage Umpqua's unique combination of size, resources and expertise to support its success," said Tory Nixon, Umpqua Bank president. "Our desire is to be a trusted business partner that helps drive even greater prosperity across the state and the entire Southwest region of the U.S."

Gillette earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and a graduate degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

Umpqua Bank, headquartered in Roseburg, OR, is a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, and has locations across Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. Umpqua Bank owns Financial Pacific Leasing, Inc., a commercial finance company that provides equipment leases to small businesses.