A power struggle between a group of shareholders and management
of Heritage Commerce Corp. prompted its chief executive officer, a
longtime Gilroy resident, to resign this week. Brad Smith, the
founder of Heritage Bank South Valley, which includes branches in
Morgan Hill and Gilroy, announced his resignation as CEO and
director of its lead company Tuesday.
A power struggle between a group of shareholders and management of Heritage Commerce Corp. prompted its chief executive officer, a longtime Gilroy resident, to resign this week.
Brad Smith, the founder of Heritage Bank South Valley, which includes branches in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, announced his resignation as CEO and director of its lead company Tuesday.
Smith, 55, stepped down to help facilitate an agreement between Heritage Commerce Corp., a publicly held company based in San Jose, and a group of dissident shareholders who had nominated alternative directors for an election at an upcoming annual meeting.
“I’m pleased to say that a negotiated settlement was reached,” Smith said. “Essentially my resignation accomplished both sides getting together and compromising, and the company, in my mind, has withstood far less pressure and expense as a direct result.”
Smith has lived in Gilroy for 27 years and has been active in the banking industry for 31 years. He was CEO and president of South Valley National Bank for 14 years before becoming chairman of Heritage Commerce and helping found one of its subsidiaries, Heritage Bank South Valley, in 1999. A year later, he was appointed CEO of Heritage Commerce.
Smith said he stepped down to spare the company an expensive proxy fight. The dissident shareholders filed a proxy challenge to add two new members to the board of directors different from those on the slate of candidates already proposed by theboard.
