Danielle Silva, a Boston business leader known for operating at the intersection of finance and life sciences, has left First Republic Bank following the bank’s sale to JPMorgan Chase.
Today Silva starts her new job as senior vice president of life sciences at Pacific Western Bank. She was previously the director of life sciences at First Republic. She will be providing corporate banking services to early-stage life sciences companies and venture banking offerings to venture firms.
Pacific Western Bank has branches and offices primarily throughout California, as well as locations in states like Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Silva will remain in Boston at the bank’s office at 131 Oliver St.
Silva is one of several local bank leaders to move into new positions following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic earlier this year. Silicon Valley Bank’s Kristen Craft is now supporting startups at Fidelity Investments and Jesse Bardo took a role at recruiting company Hunt Club.
Finding a niche in banking, life sciences
Silva is from Holliston, attended Syracuse University and has spent her career in Boston.
She doesn’t have a background in life sciences, but her economics education and passion for helping patients carried her into the world of biotech rather than hedge funds. Silva said that like many in the life sciences, she also has a family member impacted by a disease. Her mother has Alzheimer’s disease and was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
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“I could spend my career basically just taking money and making more money off that money, or I could spend my career actually making an impact and hopefully, in my own way, helping patients,” Silva said.
Much of Silva’s career has been focused on the fundraising side of the life sciences industry, including as founder of Life Science Nation, which helps companies raise money from investors outside of the venture capital space, and assistant vice president at Capital Advisors Group, where she focused on cash management and venture debt. She expects both of these areas of expertise to be useful as she starts her new role at Pacific Western Bank given the challenging economic environment.
Silva said she will focus on helping early-stage biotech startups, which often face more difficulties accessing funding opportunities.
“I think for a lot of early-stage companies, the fundraising side is what they struggle with because they don’t have somebody necessarily on the team that has that economics or finance background,” Silva said.
Transitioning to a new bank
After being seized by federal regulators, on May 1 First Republic Bank was sold to JP Morgan Chase in the largest, but not the first, bank failure in 2023. The San Francisco-based bank was among the largest banks in Massachusetts by deposits.
Following the deal, Silva began looking for a new position. Even though she had only been in her role at First Republic for six months, she knew she wanted to stay in the banking world. She had offers from an early-stage company and a fund, but she felt she could have the greatest impact at a bank.
“I feel like I’ll be able to hopefully help the most number of companies at the earliest stages by going to Pacific Western Bank, given their network too. They work with some smaller VC funds,” Silva said.
On top of helping early-stage companies and venture funds with banking services, Silva said she will also be helping them with building connections and other support that goes beyond banking.
“I never turn down a conversation with a company in the life sciences space, no matter what area they’re in. So I would just say, if you’re in Boston in life sciences, I would love to have a conversation with you no matter how early your company is, because I’m always happy to help in any way I can,” Silva said.
