HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 29, 2009) — Four new bankers have joined Sterling Bank to form a Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Group that will focus on developing and servicing commercial loan and deposit relationships.

The new bankers are Kirby Ansel, Executive Vice President; Leonard Loyd, Senior Vice President; Jack Battle, Senior Vice President, and Alma Gloria, Specialty Banking Assistant.  These bankers were most recently at Wachovia Bank, a Wells Fargo Company.

“We’re very fortunate to have been able to recruit this highly successful team to Sterling,” said Sterling CEO Downey Bridgwater.  “They will be valuable partners for our banking specialists in developing client relationships that encompass all the financial services we offer.”

Ansel has been a banker at Comerica Bank and NationsBank and its predecessors InterFirst, First Republic, and First International Bank.  He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin University and the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. 

Loyd was previously a Senior Vice President and Senior Producing Leader at Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and held earlier banking positions at Comerica, Chase, and former financial institutions such as MBank.  He holds a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s in business from UH. 

Before coming to Sterling, Jack Battle was also a Senior Vice President and Senior Producing Leader in the Wells Fargo/Wachovia Business Banking Group.  He has previously held positions at Comerica and Bank One, which is now part of J.P. Morgan Chase.   Battle has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration from Texas A&M University.

Also joining the Commercial and Industrial Group as Specialty Banking Assistant is Alma Gloria, who was most recently a Senior Relationship Specialist at Wells Fargo/Wachovia.  Gloria previously worked at Sterling for 18 years.

###

About Sterling Bank

Sterling Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sterling Bancshares, Inc. and has assets of $5.1 billion and operates 60 banking centers in the greater metropolitan areas of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. The Company’s common stock is traded through the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “SBIB.”  For more information on Sterling Bank, please visit www.banksterling.com.