James A Saitz

Jim Saitz began his 36-year banking career in 1970 as a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He moved to the commercial banking industry in 1976, serving in executive level positions with several publicly traded financial institutions, including Mark Twain Banks, Landmark Banks and Magna Bank. His public company experience included senior lending responsibilities as well as serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Landmark Bancshares Corporation, a $2.5 billion dollar multi-state, multi-bank holding company. He also served as Chief Credit Officer for Magna Bancshares, a $5 billion dollar bank holding company. In 1998, as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trustcorp Financial, Inc., Jim led the acquisition by Trustcorp of a small privately held financial institution in St. Louis, Missouri named Missouri State Bank. Over the ensuing eight years under Jim’s leadership as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Missouri State Bank grew to almost $1 billion dollars in size and was acquired by Marshall and Ilsley Corporation (“M&I”) for the highest book value multiple paid for a Missouri based financial institution at that time. As part of the public comments released by M&I regarding their decision to buy Trustcorp, M&I noted Trustcorp’s financial strength, stable credit quality and concentration in an attractive metropolitan market. M&I also noted as a reason for the acquisition the merger brought the opportunity for high revenue growth. Throughout his career, Jim has made a variety of direct and indirect investments in small business enterprises. His direct investments include companies in real estate brokerage, real estate development and residential construction industries as well as medical device manufacturing, specialty insurance and technology companies. His indirect investment experience includes being a founding investor and board member of the St. Louis Business Development Fund and the St. Louis Private Fund. Both funds target small to medium size operating companies in the St. Louis area by providing the financial resources necessary for them to build capacity, increase sales and improve profitability.