Veteran loan officer Christopher Blake joined Cross River Bank, where he’ll serve clients in Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn in the lender’s Commercial and Multi-Family Real Estate division, the company announced Tuesday.
The Hofstra University graduate joined New Jersey-based Cross River Bank after spending more than 22 years at New York-based Astoria Bank, where he most recently served as head of the sales division and director of the residential loan production department.
“As we look to continue to grow our multi-family and commercial real estate business, the breadth and depth of Chris’s residential and commercial real estate expertise, as well as his management and operations experience, will make him an invaluable asset to Cross River,” said Shimon Eisikowicz, Chief Lending Officer for Cross River. “We look forward to having him on our team.”
With his experience and a deep understanding of both commercial and residential real estate in the tri-state area, Blake will be responsible for managing and growing Cross River’s roster of multi-family and commercial real estate clients. At Astoria Bank, Blake was credited with increasing production by 15 percent in all three of the bank’s leading channels: Retail, wholesale, and correspondent lending.
In other Cross River news, the bank recently secured $28 million venture capital funding from three well-regarded investors — Battery Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ribbit Capital — and has developed strategic partnerships with FinTech leaders to build fully compliant and integrated solutions for the marketplace lending and payment processing arenas.
