What are your hobbies and relaxations?

Hunting, fishing, hiking, 4 wheeling/off-road, camping, traveling, sailing, surfing. I have a new Hummer 2 and really enjoy taking it off-road.

Did you ever have a mentor and what did he/she teach you?

Dorothy Higga, manager of State Savings and Loan in Honolulu, Hawaii, took me under her wing right after I graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She taught me how to manage people, supervise, teach and coach, underwrite and do credit analysis. Smartest woman I ever met. She promoted me into her supervisory position after only one year. I still think about her after all these years.

Five years from now, community banks will…

My crystal ball is really fuzzy on that. These are pretty uncertain times in banking. If you look at what is going on in the volatile stock market, you can see what effect this is having on our economy in general. I think that there will probably be another round of mergers during this challenging time for community banks. Right now I am seeing almost all banks experiencing spread compression as a result of rates on deposits increasing at the same time competition is driving down the yields on loans. I would not want to be doing a de novo right now.Strictly as a best guess, based on the financial and statistical data I have seen, I think 2007 will continue to be a real challenge and 2008 may get ugly.

What keeps you up at night?

Thinking about 2008.