Gregory W. Becker
{{Short description|California banking executive}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Not to be confused with|text=Gregory R. Becker, a Republican politician from New York}}{{Infobox person
| name = Gregory W. Becker
| image = Greg Becker at tour of 1776.jpg
| image_caption = Becker in 2015
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|56|2023|2|28}}
| nationality = American
| education = Indiana University (B.A.)
| known_for = Final CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) prior to its collapse in 2023
}}
Gregory W. Becker (born {{birth based on age as of date|56|2023|2|28|noage=1}}{{cite web |date=3 March 2023 |title=SVB Financial Group 2023 Proxy Statement |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/719739/000071973923000032/sivb-20230303.htm |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |page=15}}) is an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of SVB Financial Group and its chief banking subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2011 to 2023.{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=David |date=2023-04-21 |title=SVB Financial Group: CEO Greg Becker and CFO Daniel Beck have resigned {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/investing/silicon-valley-bank-ceo-resigns/index.html |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=CNN |language=en}} He also was a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco before SVB’s collapse in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Lang |first=Hannah |date=2023-03-11 |title=Who is Greg Becker, the head of failed Silicon Valley Bank? |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/who-is-greg-becker-head-failed-silicon-valley-bank-2023-03-10/ |access-date=2023-03-12}}{{Cite news |last=Derby |first=Michael S. |date=2023-03-11 |title=CEO of failed Silicon Valley Bank no longer a director at San Francisco Fed |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/ceo-failed-silicon-valley-bank-no-longer-director-sf-fed-2023-03-10/ |access-date=2023-03-12}}
Early life and education
Becker grew up on his family's {{convert|300|acre|adj=on}} farm in Fort Wayne, Indiana.{{cite magazine|title=An ecosystem of one: How SVB Financial became the venture capital industry's leading bank|first=Jack|last=Milligan|work=Bank Director|publisher=DirectorCorps|location=Brentwood, Tennessee|date=First Quarter 2022|page=12|url=https://www.svb.com/contentassets/466600f7f44349c8b6e7e9a28bf168e1/bank-director-magazine-january-2022.pdf#page=2}} His father ran a business supply company.{{Cite news |last=Eisen |first=Ben |last2=Foldy |first2=Ben |last3=Baer |first3=Justin |last4=Miao |first4=Hannah |date=2023-03-13 |title=CEO Greg Becker Was There for SVB’s Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/greg-becker-was-there-for-svbs-quick-rise-and-even-quicker-fall-2ff25176 |access-date=2023-03-23 |work=The Wall Street Journal |location=New York City |language=en-US}} He received a bachelor's degree in finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.{{Cite web |last=Cook |first=John |date=2012-06-01 |title=Silicon Valley Bank’s Greg Becker: Why Facebook’s stock fall may be a good thing |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2012/silicon-valley-bank-ceo-greg-becker-state-startups-facebooks-fall-good/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=GeekWire |language=en-US}}{{cite news|title=Greg Becker's Silicon Valley Bank Funds The World's Innovators|first=Scott S.|last=Smith|work=Investor's Business Daily|location=Los Angeles|date=October 7, 2021|accessdate=March 13, 2023|url=https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/svb-financial-ceo-greg-beckers-silicon-valley-bank-funds-the-worlds-innovators/}}
Career
Becker's first job out of college was at a Comerica branch in Detroit. Initially, the bank's records erroneously showed that he held a Master of Business Administration; he corrected the error, but it opened up opportunities for him. His manager offered him an opportunity to spend nine months working in the bank's branch in Pleasanton, California. Drawn by the weather, he stayed and worked at a small bank that Comerica had acquired in San Jose.
In 1993, Becker followed his manager to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). One of his first deals as a loan officer there was to lend $350,000 to a company that would get acquired by Cisco for ${{format price|100000000}}. In 1996, he opened the bank's branch in Boulder, Colorado.
In 1999, he returned to Silicon Valley to found SVB Capital, the group's venture capital fund management division.{{cite web|title=Greg Becker|publisher=Silicon Valley Bank|location=Santa Clara, California|accessdate=March 12, 2023|url=https://www.svb.com/profile/greg-becker}} He rose through the ranks to become the bank's chief banking officer, chief operating officer, and, in 2008, its president. He was promoted to president of parent company SVB Financial Group in 2010, then became the chief executive officer of both companies on April 21, 2011.{{cite news|title=Exec reorg at SVB Financial, profit down|first=Eli|last=Segall|work=Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal|publisher=American City Business Journals|location=San Jose, California|date=January 20, 2011|accessdate=March 13, 2023|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/01/20/exec-reorg-at-svb-financial-profit-down.html}}{{Cite web |last=Ritholtz |first=Barry |date=2021-08-15 |title=Transcript: Greg Becker |url=https://ritholtz.com/2021/08/transcript-greg-becker/ |access-date=2023-03-12 |website=The Big Picture |language=en-US}}{{cite press release|title=Leadership and Membership Announcements for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Board of Directors|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco|location=San Francisco|date=January 10, 2019|accessdate=March 15, 2023|url=https://www.frbsf.org/our-district/press/news-releases/2019/leadership-and-membership-announcements-board-of-directors/}}
= Silicon Valley Bank failure =
{{Main|Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank}}
On February 27, 2023, Becker sold 12,451 shares of company stock, worth a total of $3.6 million. The sale was made through an executive trading plan filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2023.{{cite news |last=Weinstein |first=Austin |date=March 10, 2023 |title=Silicon Valley Bank CEO sold $3.6{{nbsp}}million in stock days before the bank's failure |work=SiliconValley.com |agency=Bloomberg |url=https://www.siliconvalley.com/2023/03/10/svb-chief-sold-3-6-million-in-stock-days-before-banks-failure/ |url-status=live |accessdate=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311012257/https://www.siliconvalley.com/2023/03/10/svb-chief-sold-3-6-million-in-stock-days-before-banks-failure/ |archive-date=March 11, 2023}} Following news of SVB's dire financial circumstances on March 9, 2023, Becker urged venture capitalist firms to avoid panic in order to stave off a collapse.{{Cite news |last=Griffith |first=Erin |last2=Copeland |first2=Rob |date=2023-03-10 |title=Silicon Valley Bank’s Financial Stability Worries Investors |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/business/silicon-valley-bank-investors-worry.html |access-date=2023-03-12 |issn=0362-4331}}
Following news of SVB's failure on March 10, 2023, Becker was reportedly no longer on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.{{Cite news |last=Flitter |first=Emily |last2=Copeland |first2=Rob |date=2023-03-10 |title=Silicon Valley Bank Fails After Run on Deposits |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/business/silicon-valley-bank-stock.html |access-date=2023-03-12 |issn=0362-4331}} In the aftermath of SVB's collapse, Becker received criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren,{{cite news |last=Warren |first=Elizabeth |authorlink=Elizabeth Warren |title=Elizabeth Warren: We Can Prevent More Bank Failures |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/opinion/elizabeth-warren-silicon-valley-bank.html |date=March 13, 2023 |work=The New York Times |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230313133303/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/opinion/elizabeth-warren-silicon-valley-bank.html |archivedate=March 13, 2023 |accessdate=March 13, 2023 }} Representative Ro Khanna of California, and Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose, who called for money from the stock sale to be clawed back and given to depositors.{{Cite web |last=Neukam |first=Stephen |date=2023-03-12 |title=Khanna: Money from Silicon Valley Bank stock sale should be ‘given to the depositors’ |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3896460-khanna-money-from-silicon-valley-bank-stock-sale-should-be-given-to-the-depositors/ |access-date=2023-03-12 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}{{cite news|title=San Jose mayor blasts ‘weak’ government response to Silicon Valley Bank collapse|work=San José Spotlight|location=San Jose, California|date=March 12, 2023|accessdate=March 12, 2023|url=https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-mayor-blasts-weak-government-response-to-silicon-valley-bank-collapse/}} Reports and photos show that immediately after the SVB collapse, Becker flew first class to his $3.1 million cottage in Hawaii, leaving his colleagues to deal with the failure.{{cite news|title=Ex-Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker jets to Hawaii after collapse|work=New York Post|location=New York, New York|date=March 16, 2023|access-date=April 5, 2023|url=https://nypost.com/2023/03/16/ex-svb-ceo-greg-becker-jets-to-hawaii-after-collapse/}} Becker stated during his Senate testimony that, "We decided we were going to go to one of two places to be with family. Either we would be with my family in Indiana or her family in Hawaii."{{cite news|title=Examining the Failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank|work=United States Senate Committeeon Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs|location=Washington, DC|date=May 16, 2023|access-date=May 16, 2023|url=https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/examining-the-failures-of-silicon-valley-bank-and-signature-bank}}
Following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Becker remained a board member and the CEO of Silicon Valley Financial Group, the former parent of Silicon Valley Bank, until April 19, 2023 when he resigned both roles.
Affiliations
File:Opening remarks by Greg Becker at Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 welcome reception.jpg.]]
Becker is on the West Coast Advisory Board of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the Kelley School of Business{{cite web|title=JCEI Boards|publisher=Kelley School of Business|location=Bloomington, Indiana|accessdate=March 18, 2023|url=https://kelley.iu.edu/faculty-research/centers-institutes/entrepreneurship-innovation/about/boards.html}} and, since 2021, the Guiding Council of One Mind at Work, a group that advocates for workplace mental health.{{cite press release|title=Global Leaders Make Commitment to Prioritizing Mental Health in the Workplace|publisher=One Mind at Work|location=Rutherford, California|date=October 14, 2021|accessdate=March 18, 2023|url=https://onemind.org/news/guiding-council-announcement/}}{{cite web|title=Schedule 14A|author=SVB Financial Group|publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|location=Washington, D.C.|date=April 21, 2022|page=4|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/719739/000119312522064940/d299123ddef14a.htm#rom299123_4|via=EDGAR}}
Until the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, Becker represented the bank in several organizations, including trade groups that supported the bank's business agenda.{{cite news|title=Silicon Valley Bank ex-CEO backed Big Tech lobbying groups that targeted Dodd-Frank, sought corporate tax cuts|first=Brian|last=Schwartz|work=CNBC|date=March 16, 2023|accessdate=March 18, 2023|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/16/silicon-valley-bank-ex-ceo-greg-becker-backed-big-tech-lobbying-groups.html}} He was a Class A Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from January 2019; the executive council of the TechNet trade association from 2016, including as chair from 2020 to 2022; and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's executive board from 2011, including as chair from 2014 to 2017.{{cite news|title=Silicon Valley Bank CEO leaves powerful board|first=Joseph|last=Geha|work=San José Spotlight|location=San Jose, California|date=March 14, 2023|accessdate=March 15, 2023|url=https://sanjosespotlight.com/silicon-valley-bank-ceo-leaves-powerful-board/}}
He was on the executive advisory board of the Alliance for Southern California Innovation from 2017 to 2018 and on the United States Department of Commerce's Digital Economy Board of Advisors from 2016 to 2017.
Personal life
Becker is a competitive cyclist. In 2010, he raised $500,000 for Best Buddies on a {{convert|100|mi|adj=on}} ride in California.{{cite news|title=Seasoned by Silicon Valley's cycles, tech banker Greg Becker rides on|first=Cromwell|last=Schubarth|work=Silicon Valley Business Journal|location=San Jose, California|date=June 2, 2015|accessdate=March 13, 2023|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2015/05/29/hardened-by-silicon-valleys-cycles-tech-banker.html}}
References
External links
{{Commons category|Gregory W. Becker}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Gregory W.}}
Category:Kelley School of Business alumni
Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Category:American chief executives of financial services companies
Category:Cyclists from California
Category:People from Fort Wayne, Indiana