WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
BANKING
Virginia Varela
President and CEO / Golden Pacific Bank
Virginia Varela is a rarity. As president and CEO of Golden Pacific
Bank in Sacramento, she’s among just 4 percent of women who
hold the top C-suite title in the field of banking. “You don’t see
a whole lot of women CEOs,” says Varela, who’s had a three-
decade-long career. “This is the fourth bank I’ve either been CEO,
president or (chief operating officer) of. I’m proud that every bank
I’ve gone to has improved its operations and earnings.”
Since Varela was appointed CEO, Golden Pacific has had con-
sistent profits after five straight years of losses and raised mil-
lions of dollars in capital, she says. In 2018, the bank was the fifth
most profitable in California. Community banks in Sacramento
saw double-digit growth in 2018, with Golden Pacific scoring the
highest return on assets of all the local banks.
But the most trying times in her career were getting through
multiple financial crises: the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s
and 1990s, the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, and the Great
Recession. “Not knowing what’s ahead is difficult, not knowing
when the economy will shift,” she says.
A native of San Francisco, Varela graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in economics from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in
English literature from UC Santa Cruz, and earned an MBA from
the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
She began her career as a bank examiner and later worked as a
federal banking regulator overseeing compliance with laws that
regulate financial institutions.
In 1999, Varela moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked
for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was involved in
congressional initiatives, including rulemaking for the Shared
National Credit Program. Varela returned to California in 2007 to
work at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. In 2013, after
jobs at other banks in the Bay Area, she joined Golden Pacific,
which has branches in Sacramento, Sutter and Yuba counties.
“We specialize in helping really small businesses and nonprof-
its,” Varela says. “It’s so rewarding to see the fruits of your labor
when you’re passing on capital or financial services that help
others to succeed.”
Varela has traveled the world, from Libya to Malaysia, to con-
sult on banking. She’s also president of the board of directors for
the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera and president of Mercy
Pedalers, a bicycle ministry serving people experiencing home-
lessless, founded by Sister Libby Fernandez, formerly executive
director of Loaves & Fishes. This year, Varela is doing a 500-mile
pilgrimage hike with Sister Libby in Europe.
“I’ve had a wonderful career, and I’ve had a lot of accomplish-
ments I’m proud of,” Varela says. “Part of it was being supported
by other people and being open to new adventures.”
by Judy Farah
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comstocksmag.com | March 2020