Richard W. Decker Jr. - Chairman & Co-Founder
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Prior to founding Belvedere Capital in 1994, Mr. Decker was a partner in The Contrarian Group, which focuses on turning around undervalued and troubled companies by adding investment and operating management.
In 1993, Mr. Decker was one of the five founding Directors and Vice Chairman of Independent Bancorp of Arizona(Caliber Bank) in Phoenix, Arizona. This involved raising approximately $150 million in capital and creating the largest ‘de novo’ banking institution believed ever to have been created in the United States with approximately $1.8 billion in assets and 49 branches. This became Arizona’s fifth largest bank and the largest independent bank in the state.
Prior to joining The Contrarian Group in 1990, Mr. Decker was President and CEO of WestAmerica Bank, a $1.5 billion asset, 35-branch community bank headquartered in Marin County, California. From 1973 to 1988, Mr. Decker was with First Interstate Bank of California, a $20 billion bank (acquired by Wells Fargo), as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer reporting to the President and serving on the bank’s Managing Committee. Mr. Decker started his banking career in 1970 with Chemical Bank in New York, London and Paris.
Mr. Decker is a member of the Board of Directors of Green Bancorp and VRT Insurance Services. Mr. Decker is also a member of the Board of Directors of both the Harvard Business School Alumni Association and the Harvard Alumni Association in Boston, Massachusetts and is the past Chairman of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Northern California. Mr. Decker recently retired from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Mr. Decker earned his BS degree from Long Beach State University in 1967 and an MBA in 1969. In 1970, he earned an additional graduate degree from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). In addition, he completed the Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management at Stanford Business School and in 1986 completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School.