Mr. Couto has been Senior Vice President and Special Assistant to the Chairman of Preferred Bank since 2010. On February 22, 2010 Mr. Couto was appointed Executive Vice President. Before joining Preferred Bank he served in senior management positions at two other Southern California financial institutions including Vineyard Bank, NA. Mr. Couto served as the Chief Risk Officer of Vineyard Bank from July 2007 to April 2009 and Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer from September 2008 to April 2009. Prior to joining Vineyard Bank, Mr. Couto spent 16 years working for the FDIC in a variety of positions, including most recently as Senior Risk Management Examiner. He has expertise in risk management, regulatory compliance, credit analysis and financial statement analysis. Mr. Couto received his Bachelor?s degree of finance from California State University San Bernardino in 1991 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin's Graduate School of Banking in 2004.