The bank failures earlier this year of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank set off a scramble among startup founders to secure their capital and, in some cases, find a new bank with which to do business.
It also led to a wave of banking executives and professionals to jump from SVB and First Republic into new roles at other local lenders.
Three members of First Republic’s tech and venture capital banking team are the latest among local banking executives jumping ship. Kyle Gross, a former director of tech and venture at First Republic, posted on LinkedIn this morning that he and his colleagues Louie Balasny and Robert Hughes III have joined Providence-based Citizens Bank.
Gross wrote that they would be “helping build out (Citizen’s) innovation and venture capital banking capabilities to deliver exceptional service to clients.” He declined to comment further on his new role at Citizens.
When asked for a comment, Michelle King Savio, head of consumer banking communications for Citizens, pointed BostInno to a press release from June 9 announcing that the bank had added approximately 50 new senior private bankers and related support staff in Boston, Florida, New York, and San Francisco. The release says “several sought-after teams, formerly with First Republic, chose to join Citizens based on its strong culture and customer focus.”
The Boston Business Journal previously reported that 15 of those new hires were joining the Boston region's private-banking team.
King Savio did not respond to additional requests for comment about Gross, Balasny and Hughes’ new positions at Citizens and the innovation banking services they would be spearheading.
Balasny was a director of tech and venture capital at First Republic and joins Citizens as managing director of venture and innovation banking, according to his LinkedIn. Hughes was a senior director of tech and venture capital banking at First Republic. He and Gross are also both joining Citizens as managing directors.
Gross and Balasny worked at First Republic for about three years and Hughes had been at the bank for over eight years, starting as a branch manager.
Hughes, Gross and Balasny are not the only First Republic leaders to move into new positions supporting Boston-area startups. Earlier this week Danielle Silva, First Republic’s former director of life sciences, started a new role as senior vice president of life sciences at Pacific Western Bank. Berkshire Bank’s wealth management team also hired former First Republic employees.
