Mr. Gardner served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Pacific Premier and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Premier Bank until their acquisition by Columbia in 2025. He has extensive knowledge of all facets of financial institution management. During his tenure, Mr. Gardner led Pacific Premier Bank s transformation into one of the largest commercial banks headquartered in California and a top performing bank in the United States, completing 12 acquisitions across whole banks, specialty finance lines of business and FDIC-assisted transactions. Mr. Gardner is an expert in all areas of mergers and acquisitions as well as capital market transactions. Prior to Pacific Premier, he was an executive officer of Hawthorne Financial Corporation, responsible for credit administration and portfolio management. Earlier in his career, he held senior management roles at both commercial banks and thrift institutions. In addition to his experience as an executive, Mr. Gardner previously served as a director for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and as a director and chairman of the finance committee for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He also previously served as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council.