Sunwest Hires New Chief Information Officer

News provided by

May 16, 2018, 08:45 ET

IRVINE, Calif., May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunwest Bank is pleased to welcome Shailesh Bhaid as chief information officer. In this position, he will oversee and drive the bank's application support and IT infrastructure teams. Shailesh will also work to develop the bank's multiple new technology initiatives, many of which focus on greater workflow automation.

"Shailesh has an impressive breadth of experience in both leading teams of IT professionals, and in understanding how to create technology initiatives that improve the operational efficiency of a business," said Carson Lappetito, Sunwest's president. "We are happy to have him on our team and are confident that he'll help align our IT roadmap with our overall business vision."

Bhaid earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Bombay University and his certificate in software engineering from Mumbai's RCCL Institute of Technology. He received his MBA from the Ageno School of Business in San Francisco and is currently completing his Master of Science in software management at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley.

Shailesh has an extensive work background, with positions at Bank of the West, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Cisco Systems, GT Nexus, PMI Mortgage, eFueler.com and Unisys Corporation. As the senior manager of web-channel development at Wells Fargo, he was tasked with the complete overhaul of the online banking platform. As a VP of enterprise business process reengineering at Bank of the West, his initiatives led to a 34% improvement in efficiency.

"As someone who's developed IT solutions at companies ranging from small start-ups all the way to large national banks, I'm happy to put my skills to work at Sunwest," said Shailesh Bhaid. "Sunwest already has a talented IT staff in place and a great corporate culture. I'm glad to work for an organization that puts their customers front-and-center and who cares so much about their employees as well. Leading the digital transformation of Sunwest is something I look forward to."

Sunwest Bank, founded in 1969, is a privately held commercial bank with over $1.1 Billion in assets and headquartered in Irvine, CA, with operations in California, Arizona, Idaho and Utah. We are an entrepreneurial business bank with a long tradition of providing excellent service to entrepreneurs, privately held corporations, family offices, small-medium size business and real estate developers throughout the Western United States. Sunwest Bank is a Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. More information about Sunwest Bank and its full line of products and services is available at SunwestBank.com.