Bob Brant

Executive Vice President

City National Bank

Age: 44

In L.A.’s banking industry, where downsizing and consolidation are the order of the day, Bob Brant has managed not only to survive but to thrive.

In fact, Brant, who heads commercial banking for City National Bank’s metro region, has emerged remarkably unscathed even though his employers have changed hands several times through mergers and acquisitions throughout much of his banking career.

And now, at the age of 44, he finds himself being groomed for a top-level position perhaps the presidency of one of the biggest remaining banks based in Los Angeles.

The fourth-generation Angeleno spent about 20 years at Union Bank of California before being hired by City National in 1996. The Union Bank he left less than two years ago had gone through a variety of mergers since 1978 most recently with Bank of California, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Bank (the result of Mitsubishi and Bank of Tokyo merging in Japan).

It was Brant’s ability to stay focused as a lender to middle-market companies that allowed him to prosper and advance at Union. “For me (the mergers) didn’t seem to be a big change because merger issues mostly involved senior management,” he said.

Brant was hired by City National after an extensive search led by executive recruiter Peter Kelly. Banks seldom hire people as young as Brant for executive vice president positions, Kelly said.

“He’s one of probably three, maybe four senior guys over there who could potentially be succession management for the presidency or another top-level management job,” Kelly said. “You profile people (during a search), and you say, ‘If this person works out, he could be the next generation of management.’ And clearly that was in the back of their minds.”

Don Moen, a retired vice chairman from Union, called Brant very “adaptable.”

“He was a good soldier and did what you asked him to do,” Moen said. “He was willing to take on the unknown.”