FIG Partners, one of the nation’s premier investment banking and research firms specializing in community banks, today announced that community banking and fintech executive Christa Steele has joined its Board of Directors.

Steele has more than 20 years of financial services and community banking experience. Her most recent operating role was as President, CEO and director of $3.4 billion Mechanics Bank, where she led the successful financial turnaround and sale of the company. She is currently Founder of Boardroom Consulting LLC, a San Francisco-Bay Area based firm providing advisory services to public and private company management teams and boards of directors. A well-known industry commentator and speaker, Steele has worked on banking legislation in Congress and with regulators. She is a two-time recipient of the San Francisco Business Times’ “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” award.

“Christa Steele is a thought leader in community banking and fintech, and her experience will benefit FIG as it continues to execute its growth strategy,” said Timothy Chrisman, Chairman of FIG’s Board of Directors. “Christa brings independent diversity to FIG’s board, and her vision and expertise will be of great value to the entire team.”

Steele said, “The majority of my career has been in the community bank environment. FIG understands community banking, and that expertise is demonstrated by its rapidly growing national footprint, superb research, 3,000 bank relationships and its role as a market maker for 800 banks across the U.S. FIG has a national reputation for excellence and recognizes that to succeed in today’s dynamic marketplace, it needs to help banks navigate the significant changes taking place in the industry. I’m honored to be joining FIG.”

Steele’s appointment expands the FIG Board of Directors to six members. They include Chrisman, CEO of Chrisman & Company; attorney Timothy Matz, a partner at Silver, Freedman, Taff & Tiernan LLC; Geoffrey Hodgson, FIG’s CEO; Greg Gersack, FIG’s Co-Head of Investment Banking; and Christopher Marinac, FIG’s Director of Research.

In addition to Mechanics Bank, Steele has worked as a commercial market manager, sales manager, in special assets, as commercial and retail lender and in other retail positions at Farmers & Merchants Bank, Westamerica and Bank of America. At Farmers & Merchants, where she worked for 12 years, she served as executive vice president and wholesale banking manager. Steele received a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento.

She is a graduate of the CBA Commercial Lending School and the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.