The president and CEO of a large Washington, D.C., region community bank known for financing commercial real estate developments plans to retire.
Eagle Bancorp, the Bethesda, Maryland-based holding company for EagleBank, said Chief Executive Susan Riel intends to step down in 2026. She is expected to remain on the company’s board of directors but relinquish her chair role.
As part of Riel's planned departure, the company said its board elected James Soltesz as independent chair and Louis Mathews Jr. as vice chair, effective immediately. EagleBank also said it hired an executive search firm to assist with the recruitment of Riel’s successor.
“I feel strongly that we’re at an inflection point. We’ve dealt with the bulk of our issues and we’re ready and positioned now to move the bank forward as far as growth and profitability,” Riel told CoStar News in an interview. She added that the bank has been “aggressively dealing with our office challenges.”
Her resignation comes a few weeks after the bank reported a net loss of $67.5 million for the third quarter, slightly less than the net loss of $69.8 million for the second quarter. A majority of the bank's more than $7.3 billion in loans is tied to income-producing and owner-occupied commercial real estate, according to Eagle Bancorp's third-quarter earnings report.
“We continued to execute our strategy to resolve asset quality challenges within the loan portfolio," Riel said at the time.
Prior to being named CEO in 2019, Riel served as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of the bank and executive vice president of Eagle Bancorp. Now in her 70s, she has been with the company since 1998.
Riel told CoStar News that upon her retirement she intends to spend more time with her family and travel.