Paul S. Ulrich joined Community West Bank as executive vice president, chief credit officer. He will be responsible for the overall credit quality of the bank’s loan portfolio.

“Paul has a long and distinguished career as an executive level credit officer, with vast experience in the oversight and administration of commercial and industrial credit, asset-based lending, commercial real estate and agribusiness financing,” said Martin Plourd, president and CEO. “His track record of building and developing strong credit cultures will help our bank in the years ahead, as we continue to grow Community West Bank’s presence on California’s central coast.”

A 35-year banking veteran, Ulrich most recently served as senior vice president and chief credit officer at Evans Bank in Hamburg, NY. He previously worked as executive vice president and chief credit officer at Hudson Valley Bank and as senior vice president and senior credit officer at First Tennessee Bank. Ulrich began his career at Chase Manhattan Bank.

Community West Bank is the largest publicly traded community bank serving Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in California. It has seven full-service branch banking offices and specializes in relationship business banking, manufactured housing lending and government guaranteed lending.