Silicon Valley Bank collapse: In the wake of SVB collapse, CEO Greg Becker departed the board effective Friday, a spokesperson for the regional Federal bank said.
Here are five points on Greg Becker:
Greg Becker joined the Silicon Valley Bank three decades ago in 1993 as a loan officer, according to Reuters. He played a prominent role in steering the lender, valued at over $40 billion till last year, through the 2008 global financial crisis and was appointed the president and CEO of SVB Financial Group in 2011.
According to SVB's website, Mr Becker led the expansion of the company to include four primary businesses serving the innovation sector: global commercial banking, venture capital and credit investing, private banking and wealth management, and investment banking. Prior to taking on the SVB President and CEO role, Mr Becker held a variety of leadership positions, including co-founding SVB Capital - the company's investment arm.
From 2014 to 2017, Mr Becker also served as the chairman of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. He has also been a member of the US Commerce Department's Digital Economy Board of Advisors for a year from 2016 to 2017.
Mr Becker graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor's degree in business. From there, he worked at a bank that served what he called "traditional companies". He joined Silicon Valley Bank later, after his manager quit the earlier company for the lender, founded in 1983.
During his SVB journey, Mr Becker described his first few years at the firm as "the highest of highs and the lowest of lows" as the lender navigated the tech rout of the late 1990s. "We took losses. It was a challenging time for us... I look back on it fondly. I learned a lot about the institution. I learned a lot about how to lend money," he said.
