Sunwest Bank adds former Home Federal staff

Photo by Brad Iverson-Long.

Sunwest Bank has added nine former Home Federal Bank employees to its Idaho headquarters in Boise, including a new Idaho market president, Terry Fesler.

Sunwest, based in Irvine, California, entered Idaho by taking over the failed Syringa Bank in early 2014. Home Federal has been acquired by Bank of the Cascades, though one of the new Sunwest bankers said the Bank of the Cascades acquisition wasn’t a factor in the decision.

“We looked at the opportunity that we could continue to stay and work together,” said Justin Archuleta, now senior vice president, commercial market leader with Sunwest. He also said the team appreciated the entrepreneurial spirit of Sunwest, also praising the bank for being privately owned. He said Sunwest is going after small and mid-sized businesses.

“Our internal relationships matter and our external relationship matter,” Archuleta said.

Also new to Sunwest are new Idaho Market President Terry Fesler, as well as Senior Relationship Manager Warren Kouba, Commercial Banking Portfolio Manager Brady Wilhite, Commercial Relationship Manager Jim Reames, Commercial Banking Credit Underwriter Jolie Lambert, Treasury Management Officer Lisa Rice, Commercial Lending Relationship Manager Kristi Crawford and Sally Caldwell.

“They’re top performers,” said Sunwest President and CEO Chris Walsh.

Sunwest now has more than 40 employees in Idaho. Sunwest has five locations in Idaho after closing one location in downtown Boise in May. Sunwest’s Idaho headquarters is on Orchard Street in Boise. When the Home Federal merger completed in mid-May, officials with Bank of the Cascades said it had 185 employees in Idaho.