Ray Davis

Ray Davis pioneered a customer-centric banking strategy and culture that transformed Umpqua Holdings Corporation and challenged the industry as a whole. In 1994 he reimagined how a bank delivers its products and services, and set out to reinvent what a bank could look like and operate, and how it engages the communities it serves.

Umpqua’s growth has demonstrated the success of Ray Davis’ approach. Since he joined as CEO, Umpqua has grown from six locations and $150 million in assets to more than 400 locations and $28 billion in assets and today has a reputation nationally and internationally as one of the world’s most innovative banks. The company annually hosts dozens of banks and other companies from around the world who travel to study Umpqua’s unique culture and distinctive approach to design, service and staffing.

In addition to its rapid growth under Davis’ leadership, Umpqua has been recognized in numerous national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fast Company, BusinessWeek and CNBC for challenging the industry’s status quo and setting a new bar for banking. In addition, Davis has been named one of high finance’s twenty-five most influential people by U.S. Banker Magazine and received American Banker’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his many contributions to the industry.

In 2015, he formed Pivotus Ventures, Inc., a separate subsidiary focused on bringing like-minded banks together around the world to revolutionize the digital banking experience.

Davis chronicled Umpqua’s path to expansion and its success navigating the economic crisis in his books, Leading for Growth: How Umpqua Bank Got Cool and Created a Culture of Greatness and Leading Through Uncertainty: How Umpqua Bank Emerged from the Great Recession Better and Stronger than Ever. Both have been praised by business publications and leaders alike for their clear-cut take on innovation, leadership and navigating change.