Meet Our Team

Virginia Varela is the President and CEO of Golden Pacific Bank, a Sacramento based community bank with a mission of providing exceptional personal and business banking services and creating customer loyalty and satisfaction. Virginia is a seasoned banker with over 30 years of successful community banking experience, both as a bank executive and as a former banking regulator. Virginia held various positions of authority with regulatory agencies including the Federal Reserve Bank and the US Treasury Department. She was a manager of examinations and supervision, helped develop banking law, drafted Congressional presentations, and provided expertise to financial institutions of all complexities. After retirement from the Federal government, Virginia was President of San Luis Trust Bank in San Luis Obispo, CEO of the Bank of Rio Vista, and COO of the Bank of the Orient in San Francisco, responsible for managing ten branches, including three in Hawaii, and one in China.

In November 2018, Virginia was elected by California State banks and credit unions to represent them as a Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

Also, in addition to her Golden Pacific Bank CEO job, Virginia is the Vice President and Western Region lead representative for “Friends of Traditional Bankers.” Virginia also serves as a Director of the Western Bankers Association, and is a Committee Associate of the American Bankers Association.

In the Sacramento area, as of January 2019, Virginia is President of the Sacramento Philharmonic Symphony and Opera Board of Directors. Virginia is also a Director of the Sacramento Metro Chamber, and on the Advisory Board of the Sacramento State University Business University. Virginia is also President of Mercy Pedalers (support for those experiencing homelessness).

Mr. Malcolm F. Hotchkiss (“Malcolm”) is GPB’s Chief Operating Officer (“CCO”). Mr. Hotchkiss brings great experience and insights to community banking. Mr. Hotchkiss enjoys a 30+ year career in commercial banking. He’s served as a Chief Operating Officer at three financial institutions, including Watsonville Federal Bank, Commercial Pacific S&LA in Santa Cruz, CA, and Pacific Coast Savings in Reno, NV. Mr. Hotchkiss was the CEO of United Business Bank (“UBB”) for more than 20 years. UBB was a successful OCC chartered community bank, headquartered in Oakland, CA, with branches in four states and more than $500 million in assets. Under the leadership of Mr. Hotchkiss, UBB successfully provided a wide range of financial services to its customers and rewarding returns to its shareholder base. In 2017 UBB was sold to BayCom Corporation. Mr. Hotchkiss was retained as a Director serving that Board.

In the past several years, Mr. Hotchkiss served on the Federal Reserve Board advisory committee, as well as the FHLB of San Francisco’s Community Deposit Reserve Committee. Mr. Hotchkiss is an active member of the California Bankers Association. He is well known and respected in the California banking industry. Mr. Hotchkiss is particularly skilled at mentorship, and under his tutelage over the years at least six Bay Area bankers advanced in their careers to executive positions at community banks.

Christine Whitney Luty is Golden Pacific Bank’s EVP / Chief Credit Officer. Christine brings an impressive background to our team. She provided lending and financial services to corporate clients at large corporate and middle-market banks before taking time off to focus on her family. In 2013, Christine re-entered the financial services world in community banking by joining GPB as a VP/Portfolio Manager. Christine also worked at another regional community bank before returning to GPB in 2016 as Credit Administrator. Christine’s credit focus and leadership are a cornerstone to Golden Pacific Bank’s successful lending program. Christine holds a MBA in Finance and Accounting from NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in Economics from Scripps College. Additionally, Christine is in her last year of studies at Pacific Coast Banking School.

Mr. McClure is joining Golden Pacific Bancorp and its subsidiary Golden Pacific Bank, N.A. as Executive Vice President/Chief Business Officer. Mr. McClure has had an impressive 25+ year career in small business lending and economic development, in California, Montana, and Colorado and has held executive level management positions for over 15 years.

In 2013, Mr. McClure was appointed District Director for the United States Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Sacramento District Office. Under his leadership over a district that covers 22 counties in Northeastern California from San Joaquin in the south to Modoc and Siskiyou to the north and serves over 3.1 million constituents, SBA loan volume grew by over 30% and total dollars grew by over 55% from 700 loans totaling $306 million in FY 2013 to 928 loans totaling over $475 million in FY 2016. Mr. McClure first joined the federal agency in Montana and was the SBA District Director in Montana prior to coming to back to his home state of California.

Prior to his federal service, Mr. McClure worked in small business lending programs. He began his career in 1990 overseeing an SBA 504 lending program at the Lancaster Economic Development Corporation in Lancaster, California and transitioned to running the Los Angeles County Business loan fund for the L.A. County Community Development Commission’s Business Finance Center. He also led the efforts of the Economic Development Collaborative – Venture County (EDC-VC) as its 2nd Executive Director before moving to Montana.

In 2000, Mr. McClure was recruited to Billings to lead the largest publicly funded economic development agency in Montana; Big Sky Economic Development Authority. While in Billings, Mr. McClure personally oversaw the creation of a privately funded Economic Development Corporation, launched a small business revolving loan fund, and developed a new SBA 504 Certified Development Corporation (CDC) which has recently become the leading SBA 504 lender in Montana.

In addition, Mr. McClure also created a targeted industry recruitment program for Billings and Yellowstone County which resulted in the recruitment of 4 major employers, including General Electric and Cabelas, to the community and the creation of over 750 new high-quality jobs. With all four projects, he developed and negotiated multi-million dollar federal, state, and local incentive packages and worked with the local commercial brokerage community to identify and negotiate the purchase of commercial real estate sites for these new employers.

Mr. McClure graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Business and lives in the Sacramento area with his wife and 2 of their 8 children.

Matt Klinker is the EVP/Chief Financial Officer of Golden Pacific Bank and Golden Pacific Bancorp.  Matt enjoys over thirty years of banking experience, including proficiencies in management, accounting, and technology systems administration.  Prior to joining Golden Pacific Bank Matt was the CFO of the Bank of Rio Vista, of Rio Vista, CA, where he worked since 2008 on a wide range of matters including accounting, investment portfolio, and network and core systems performance.  Matt also worked at other community banks including Service 1^st Bank of Tracy, California as a Controller, and River City Bank of Sacramento, CA as a Technology Analyst.  Matt holds a BS in Business and Public Administration from the University of the Pacific, and is a graduate of Pacific Coast Bankers School in Seattle, Washington.