Community West Bank has announced the addition of Michael Pitts as vice president and commercial lender in the bank’s Goleta Branch.
Pitts has been in the banking industry for more than 30 years, and has been a commercial lender for the past 13 years. His background includes construction and real estate lending, as well as all types of business financing.
Pitts received business economics and accounting degrees from UCSB in 1984.
After joining Reuters in 1993, he moved with his wife and three daughters to Santiago, Chile. In 2002, they returned to Goleta, where Pitts worked as a commercial loan officer with a local bank specializing in commercial construction loans and lines of credit.
At Cal Coastal Rural Development Corporation, Pitts gained experience in Small Business Administration and rural agricultural lending, which he put to use later working with a bank in Santa Maria.
As Community West Bank’s new commercial lender in Goleta, Pitts has a wide variety of credit and commercial experience to help his clients achieve their goals.
He is active with the Rotary Club of Goleta, has spent time with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Santa Maria, served on the board with Incubators 2000 in Santa Barbara, and the California Space Authority in Santa Maria.
Pitts is fluent in Spanish and enjoys SCUBA diving, snow skiing and wine tasting with his family. His wife of 27 years is a veteran Spanish teacher at Lompoc High School, and his daughters are now students at their parents’ alma mater, UCSB.
— Eric Swanson is a marketing coordinator for Community West Bank.