Chris Stoecker is a managing director with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In his current role, he focuses on relationship management with early- and growth-stage companies throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Chris and his team provide innovative financial solutions including venture debt, recurring revenue lines of credit, private banking, foreign exchange, and all treasury management products and services.
Chris has been a technology-focused banker for over two decades. He began his career in the field with RBC’s U.S.-based technology team. He has been with SVB since 2010 at the Research Triangle Park office. Activities include account acquisition, credit evaluation, term sheet negotiations, loan closings, and active networking with venture capitalists, CPAs, attorneys and others in the industry.
Chris is a 1998 graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1. What is in your pockets?
I always have Chapstick, my AirPods, keys, my phone and my wallet, which also has my SVB credit card in it.
2. What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
Silicon Valley Bank began in 1983. It was created to bank the under-served markets initially on the West Coast. Venture-backed companies were not receiving great service, or core credit opportunities from the more traditional banks. That market is no longer under-serviced, and quite a bit has taken place recently.
We returned to serving our clients and the broader innovation economy after a couple months of disruption last year thanks to the support of First Citizens. We were able to stabilize our deposit base back in May, and continue work today with our representative pre-March clients. We’ve seen 1000’s of clients return, and we’ve had the pleasure of onboarding hundreds of new clients.
While the low levels of private equity and venture capital activity remains a headwind, we remain confident in the long-term growth opportunity and innovation economy and we’re continuing to hire. It’s exciting and fulfilling to know that we can continue to deliver the same solutions to our clients that we always have. Our sector and life-stage focus remains the same for all offerings, including banking, treasury and credit.
3. What is your favorite coffee spot?
That’s a tough one. I’d say Cup a Joe just because I’ve been going there since my high school days, or Third Place which is around the corner from us.
4. What keeps you up at night?
If you asked me a year ago, I would have had a lot to say. Of course, the current environment is worrisome, and it does impact our business. But I’ve worked through a couple of cycles in the past. And like those, this one will also come to an end. The global uneasiness is also something that is concerning but it’s not something I can control, so it’s not really something that impacts my sleep.
5. What is your favorite restaurant or happy hour?
My wife and I really like Stanbury, it’s one of our favorite spots. If our kids are in tow, which they oftentimes are, they love the smash burgers at Standard.
6. What is next for you or your organization?
For me personally, I will continue to focus on this area and the companies that are here.
As a firm, we’re going to continue to build on our 40-year history of serving the innovation economy. We remain dedicated to successful investors and innovators who are quite literally inventing the future. And now we have the full backing and financial stability of 125-year-old First Citizens Bank to continue to pursue this mission. First Citizens aims to integrate acquired businesses in a way that maintains and even strengthens their value proposition for clients, and that’s our goal as a combined company.
