Eagle Bancorp CEO Riel to retire in 2026, Soltesz appointed board chair

Eagle Bancorp

03/11/2025 22:23

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Eagle Bancorp EGBN.O said on Monday its President and CEO Susan Riel will step down in 2026, wrapping up more than six years at the helm as the lender navigates through credit concerns.

Riel will remain on the board but will let go of her chair role.

The move comes at a time when the lender has shown signs of stress in its office portfolio, an overall loss in the recently reported quarter and a stock that has lost over 35% so far in 2025.

The lender reported a third-quarter loss compared with a profit last year, as it moved a large chunk to its rainy day funds to shield against potential loan losses. The bank slashed its dividend to a penny on the same day.

Eagle has been buffing up its provisions to address stressed office credits, as per analysts.

"Following an independent review of our loan portfolio and expanded supplemental internal analysis, we took actions to reduce valuation risk in the office portfolio," CEO Riel said in a statement at the time.

The bank had reported a loss in the second quarter as well due to a jump in provisions for credit losses.

This also coincides with Eagle's chief credit officer Kevin Geoghegan's decision to retire from his role, effective December 31. This announcement was made public last month.

The company also said on Monday it appointed James Soltesz as chair and Louis Mathews Jr. as vice chair of the board of directors, effective immediately.

Shares of the bank were up marginally in trading after the bell.

Soltesz, a licensed engineer, joined the bank's board in 2007 and has served as the CEO of Soltesz, Inc, which provides engineering and related services for real estate development projects in Eagle's markets since 2001.

 (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

 ((Pritam.Biswas@thomsonreuters.com))