Cole, with 34 years of banking experience, is currently President and CEO of California Oaks State Bank. Prior to this he was at Hacienda Bank as the President & CEO. He was formerly the Executive Vice President of Operations at Mellon 1st Business Bank in Los Angeles, CA. from April 1998 to May 2001. Previously Mr. Minnick was one of the co-founders of the Verdugo Banking Company in Glendale, CA. that opened in August 1991. He was the Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer responsible for all the non-credit functions of the bank to include personnel administration, data processing, bank operations and finance.

In banking since 1971, Mr. Minnick spent 12 years with two major Chicago commercial banks in operations and data processing. In 1983 he moved to San Francisco to work at Redwood Bank also as Senior Vice President and head of operations. During the next two years he completed the centralization of operations and installed in house system for data processing. From 1986-1988 Cole worked as a consultant with an international consulting firm specializing in operational improvements. Cole was project manager for Household Finance Corporation realignment of their 950 branches. He then was Sr. Vice President & Director of Operations at Plaza Bank of Commerce in San Jose, CA. He became Vice President & Cashier in July 1989 of Valley National Bank in Glendale, CA. (which was purchased by Wells Fargo Bank in January 1990) with the responsibilities as head of bank operations and data processing.

Cole was born in Bainbridge, Georgia and like his father was in the US Army. He attended several schools throughout the south and in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from high school in Huntsville, Alabama. He holds a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1967) as well as a MBA from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill (1984).

He served in the US Army from 1967-71; as a Captain in Vietnam from 1969-70 in the field artillery and later at Ft. Riley, Kansas from 1970-71. He has taught graduate school banking course at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He is married and lives with his wife Barbara in Santa Maria.