Press Release

Novato—April 4, 2011

One of the few female CEO’s of a U.S. financial institution, she will join 150 women at the Wall Street Journal meeting. Speakers at the conference include retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as well as academic, business leaders and editors of Dow Jones publications.

Together, the group will form an Executive Task Force with the mission to address key issues that affect not only women and their potential, but also companies and their ability to harness the opportunities offered by this essential segment of the workforce.

The conference will take a fresh, data-driven approach to the host of issues surrounding the topic. McKinsey & Company, the Journal’s official research partner for the conference, will release new research at the event that will serve as a springboard for the task force’s deliberations. Through rigorous discussions led by top Journal editors, participants will collaborate in working groups to develop concrete, actionable solutions that will be published in a special report in the Journal and on WSJ.com.

“There is no doubt that more women will rightly be taking more influential positions in many more companies,” said Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Company and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. “The attrition rate of women in some industries is definitely disproportionate and there are sectors in which the potential of women has hardly been tapped in the first place. We are bringing some serious research to a serious subject that is of compelling interest to all our readers, men and women.

“The Wall Street Journal conference, which includes lectures and interactive seminars, will provide me with the opportunity to collaborate with national and international leaders who are also women.  The base of senior executives in the financial services industry who are women is still extremely small, but collectively we have important impact.

For the conference, the international consulting firm McKinsey was commissioned to study how the financial services industry could unlock “the full potential of women in the U.S. economy.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting with other women leaders and tackling such issues as structural obstacles and imbedded institutional and individual mindsets. These are extremely important issues,” she said, “I want to share my experience.”

About Circle Bank

Circle Bank (www.umpquabank.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Circle Bancorp, is a full-service bank, providing a broad range of financial services to consumers and businesses.  It is headquartered in Novato, with branches in San Rafael, Petaluma, Santa Rosa and San Francisco’s Noe Valley. It will open a new branch in Corte Madera’s Town Center Mall this week. The Bank had total net assets of $301 million as of the quarter ending December 31, 2010.

Certain of the statements contained herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.  Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “target,” “plans,” “may increase,” “may fluctuate,” “may result in,” “are projected,” and similar expressions.  The Bank’s actual results may differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the economic, business, and real estate market conditions in the Bank’s market areas, the interest rate environment, competition, regulatory and legislative actions, the possibility that the Bank will not be successful in achieving its strategic objectives, the performance and contributions of employees and directors, and other factors.  The Bank does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.