Riverview Bancorp announced Friday that Nicole Sherman will become the next president and CEO, effective July 1.
Sherman will also join the boards of directors of the Vancouver, Washington-based company and Riverview Bank, replacing Dan Cox, who has been serving as the interim head for the past nine months.
Cox stepped in when Riverview Bank placed its former CEO Kevin Lycklama on administrative leave “pending an internal investigation,” according to a regulatory filing in July last year. The bank’s board voted to oust Lycklama “without cause” in August, effective Sept. 6.
A spokesperson for the bank told Banking Dive in August that Lycklama, who took over from the longtime CEO Pat Sheaffer in 2018, was terminated due to human resource issues and declined to comment further.
Riverview appointed J. Scott Petty, managing partner of Chartwell Partners’ financial services practice, to lead the nationwide search for a candidate.
The newly appointed CEO brings more than 25 years of experience at different leadership levels to the $1.52 billion-asset company.
Sherman previously served as the chief operating officer at Utah First Federal Credit Union. She has also worked at Numerica Credit Union, AmericanWest Bank, Zions Bank and Columbia Bank, which merged with Umpqua Holdings in a $5.2 billion deal last year.
“Riverview is an organization with an unwavering dedication to serving its clients and its communities, and I look forward to leading our efforts in support of that commitment,” Sherman said in a prepared statement.
Sherman has served as a top-rated instructor at the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business since 2003, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“With over 25 years of proven experience growing community banking organizations, including the past 20 years in the Pacific Northwest, Nicole Sherman is the right person to lead Riverview into the future,” Riverview board chair Gerald L. Nies said in a statement Friday. “Nicole has an established record of building a high-performance banking culture, and we are excited about the expertise, energy and professionalism that she brings to Riverview.”
