President of First Foundation in Dallas resigns

First Foundation Inc. in Dallas, the parent company of First Foundation Bank, said Tuesday its president, David DePillo, had resigned. 

DePillo had been president of both the company and its bank unit since 2015. First Foundation Chief Financial Officer Kevin Thompson was named interim president of the company and its bank while it conducts a search for a permanent replacement for DePillo.

The $12.3 billion-asset company did not provide a reason for DePillo's sudden departure, but analysts linked it to First Foundation's recent decision to slow the pace of its loan growth as it wrestles with rising deposit costs and pressure on its funding levels.

"This announcement was not expected, but in light of its plan to dramatically slow loan growth to help alleviate pressure on the right side of the balance sheet … it is not a complete surprise to us," Piper Sandler analyst Matthew Clark said in a note to clients. DePillo "is widely viewed as being among the best multifamily" loan producers "in the country, so we believe this loss could potentially dampen some of its future growth prospects." 

He added: "Strong loan growth is not what it needs right now."

The bank's total third-quarter loans nearly doubled from a year earlier to about $10.3 billion, but its deposits have not kept pace, growing about 40% to $9.5 billion, according to the company's earnings release.

"As we look ahead for the next few quarters, we intend to bolster liquidity and preserve capital by strategically managing our loan growth going forward," Scott Kavanaugh, First Foundation's CEO, said during the company's October earnings call.

"I must emphasize, we anticipate loan growth will be slower in the coming quarters than what we have experienced in recent record quarters," Kavanaugh added. "This is a prudent decision given the macroeconomic cycle."

Thompson has been First Foundation's CFO since 2020. Prior to that, he was CFO and Treasurer at Opus Bank in California from 2017 to 2020.