Company: Signature Bank
Company Description: Signature Bank (member FDIC;NASDAQ:SBNY) is a NY-based full-service commercial bank with 19 private client offices in metro-NY, serving the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers. The Bank offers business/personal banking as well as investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products through its subsidiary, Signature Securities Group.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Executive of the Year - Banking

Nomination Title: Joseph DePaolo, Founder & CEO

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2011 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Joseph DePaolo is the CEO and founder of Signature Bank. In 2011 the bank ranked No. 3 in U. S., balance sheet growth fueled by a 32% year-over-year increase in its fourth-quarter profit; DePaolo founded Signature in 2001 with the intent to work with clients who had as much as $5 million in their checking accounts and who had as much as $30 million in their businesses.

Key to Mr. DePaolo and Siognature Banks success is the personal relationship approach. Mr. DePaolo empowers his bankers as entrepreneurs who are fully vested in the success, or failure, of their interactions with clients and the services they provide. At Signature, many of Joe Depaolo's subordinates earn more than him. Forbes

The bank’s 25 locations are not branches, but private banking offices. Most are on upper floors, not street level. Signature does not advertise. DePaolo feels that his client base is comprised of people who would never choose a financial institution based on advertising. Joe DePaolo also takes pride in the fact that all of his clients can call their bankers directly without having to go through a toll free number. Forbes, “the hallmark of Signature Bank has always been our single-point-of-contact approach where our banking teams cater to their clients. It is this model that truly differentiates Signature Bank among both colleagues and clients," explained President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. DePaolo

As a result, Signature’s remarkable 10-year success that has taken it from an initial $43 million investment to $13.9 billion in assets, ranking it among the top 1 percent of all commercial banks in the U.S., according to the FDIC, placing it among the top 80 banks in the country.

In 2011, Average total deposits for 2011 were $10.86 billion, growing $2.4 billion, or 28.5 percent, versus average total deposits of $8.45 billion for 2010. Core deposits increased a record $2.13 billion, or 24.2 percent, in 2011. Net Income for 2011 Reached a Record $149.5 Million or $3.37 Diluted Earnings Per Share, Compared with $102.1 Million or $2.46 Diluted Earnings Per Share in 2010, Up $47.5 Million, or 46.5 Percent.

“Here we are on the heels of another successful year for Signature Bank where we again reported record results across all key metrics. Our prudent and methodical approach delivered record deposit and loan growth resulting in the 4th consecutive year of record net income," said Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Going Forward

For all its rapid growth, Signature still has only about 1 percent of the New York market share.“If we could increase that just to 2 percent, we’d be able to almost double our size,” DePaolo said.

DePaolo has no plans to diversify the bank geographically, pointing out that the new York metropolitan area is the largest area for deposits in the nation and home to the greatest number of privately owned businesses.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. 

http://investor.signatureny.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=641717
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/SBNY/1820592210x0x504073/70d4a9af-2cfd-42a5-a186-f5c25c638387/SBNYLEADERS-Joseph-DePaolo-Signature-Bank.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/SBNY/1820592210x0x503569/e56839d7-08a1-40ac-b7db-9249eb3d0164/Fortune_-_100_Fastest_Growing_2011.pdf
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/SBNY/1820592210x0x541274/a288d55a-a0d2-4094-babc-aa4a67320494/REPRINT_BNYWINTER2011_SIG4.pdf
http://investor.signatureny.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=631531
https://sites.google.com/site/principlesofinformationsystems/home/bar-ilan-imba-2010/who-is-joe-depaolo

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:

Joseph J. DePaolo has been President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Signature Bank since its inception. He has also served as a Director of Signature Securities Group since its inception and served as its Chairman of the Board until December 2006. Prior to joining Signature Bank, Mr. DePaolo was a Managing Director and member of the Senior Management Committee of the Consumer Financial Services Division at Republic National Bank, which he joined in 1988.