Opus Bank  announced the expansion of its banking team in its San Francisco Region with the hires of Peter B. Hooker, a 23-year banking and finance veteran joining as Managing Director, Business Development Officer; Sheila Emami joining as Director, Client Manager, Corporate Finance; and Vicente Lopez joining as Director, Business Development Officer.

Michael Allison, Co-President of Opus Bank and President of Opus’ Commercial Bank, stated, “We are pleased that Peter, Sheila, and Vicente have joined Opus to expand our banking coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each is a highly regarded banking veteran with a tremendous depth of experience providing tailored solutions to entrepreneurs, business owners, middle market companies, and private equity sponsor-backed companies for mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs, balance sheet restructurings, recapitalizations, and growth capital.” Michael Allison concluded, “We look forward to Opus continuing to grow its loan fundings, deposit base, and market presence, adding to the success Opus has already achieved having funded over $525 million of loans in the San Francisco Bay Area in the past two years.”

Mr. Hooker joins Opus most recently from Natixis Securities America LLC, where he served as Managing Director in the Debt Capital Markets Group. From 1993 to 2012, Mr. Hooker was a banker at J.P. Morgan, where he served since 2004 as Managing Director – Leverage Finance, focused on advising and providing debt financing to financial sponsors and corporations in a variety of industries. Mr. Hooker holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Drake University and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he graduated with distinction.

Ms. Emami joins Opus most recently from Partender, a food & beverage SaaS company. Prior to Partender, Ms. Emami served as a Vice President, Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank USA, where she was responsible for establishing and building relationships with international middle-market corporations with up to $1 billion in total revenue. Ms. Emami began her banking career with Wells Fargo & Company as a Financial Analyst in the Credit Resolution Group, where she underwrote the restructuring of distressed cash flow and asset-based loans for both private and public companies. Ms. Emami graduated from Wells Fargo’s Credit Management Training Program in San Francisco in 2013 and participated in the International Rotation Program, during which time she was based in Wells Fargo’s Hong Kong office. Ms. Emami holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from Pitzer College and is an alumna of the Summer Institute for General Management program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Lopez joins Opus from Community Bank of the Bay, where he served most recently as a Vice President, Relationship Manager and earlier as Credit Analyst. Mr. Lopez holds a B.A. in Business Economics from Claremont McKenna College.