management
Shaza Andersen - Organizer, Director, and Chief Executive Officer
Shaza Andersen serves as the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trustar Bank. Trustar Bank serves the Greater Washington market focusing on delivering personal service, responsiveness and a willingness to tailor products and services to meet the needs of our customers.
Trustar Bank is the first Virginia based bank to be chartered in over a decade.
Most recently, Ms. Andersen served as the Vice Chair of the Board of Sandy Spring Bank. Prior to joining the Board, Ms. Andersen founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of WashingtonFirst Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. Ms. Andersen’s leadership grew the Bank from a single De Novo branch to over $2 billion in assets, with 19 branches in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. Ms. Andersen completed the sale of WFBI to Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDQ: SASR) for $489M in stock, which equates to 256% of its tangible book value. By dollar value, it is the largest banking deal in the Mid-Atlantic region and ranks among the 10 largest deals in the country.
Ms. Andersen is a member of the Board of Directors of Forge Insurance, serving on the Audit and Compensation committees, the Board of Commissioners of the Virginia Port Authority and a past member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, where she was the Vice Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee and a member of the Housing Committee and served on the Treasury Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and as a member of the FDIC Advisory Committee on Community Banking.
Ms. Andersen founded the Trustar Youth Foundation (formerly WFYF), a local not-for-profit organization dedicated to enriching the physical, social, and mental well-being of children in the Greater Washington area. In addition, Ms. Andersen donates her time and talent to organizations that focus on children, entrepreneurship and education including: the Economic Club of Washington, the Washington Commanders Leadership Council, the INOVA Foundation Health Board, Artists and Athletes Alliance, the National Association of Women Business Owners Leadership Circle, the Executive Board of the Blitz for the Better Foundation, the Board of Directors of the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, the George Mason University Dean’s Advisory Council, the International Women’s Forum of Washington, DC, and the Global Good Fund Advisory Board. She previously served on the Board of Trustees for Youth For Tomorrow, the Board of Directors of the Wolf Trap Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, and was a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Recognized by American Banker as one of the Top 25 Women to Watch and named a Top Banker by SmartCEO Magazine (twice), the ABC7 WJLA-TV & Toyota Dealers’ Tribute to Working Women award, named one of the Top 100 Powerful Women by Washingtonian Magazine (twice) and designated by the Washington Business Journal as one of their Power 100, 50 Fastest Growing Companies (twice), Women Who Mean Business, March of Dimes Corporate Heroine and Most Admired CEO. Capitol File Magazine selected Ms. Andersen for “The List” of prominent business and community leaders in the Washington, DC area and was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from George Mason University.
A favored and sought-after authority on banking and capital market issues, Ms. Andersen has appeared on CNBC and Fox News, and been featured in Forbes Magazine, the Washington Business Journal and Washingtonian Magazine.
George W. Connors - Director, President, and Chief Credit Officer
Mr. Connors most recently served as EVP and Division Head of the Virginia and Washington D.C. commercial markets for Sandy Spring Bank. Prior to this position, Mr. Connors was a founding director and served as President and Chief Credit Officer of WashingtonFirst Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. Under Mr. Connors’ leadership, the loan portfolio grew to $1.8 billion in the 14 year history from its start with a lending limit growing from $1.6 million at inception to $40 million in its 14 year history. The loan quality was held to a high standard with NPA’s consistently kept well under 1%, including during the times of acquisitions of other banks.
Mr. Connors serves as Chairman of United Cerebral Palsy of Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia (serving on Board since 2002). He is currently a member of the faculty of the National Commercial Lending School under the Center for Financial Training (faculty member since 2001), where he also serves on the Board (since 2004). He is active in his community serving as the Treasurer of The Falls Church Anglican as well as the Treasurer of 6565 Arlington Boulevard, LLC, the real estate entity that manages the Church, a 144,000 SF office building and a 560 parking space garage (since 2013). He was active in the scouting community in Arlington, VA serving as Pack Master and Life to Eagle Coordinator for Pack 641 and Troop 106, respectively.
Since 2016, Mr. Connors has served as a US Trustee to the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, an organization that raises funds and develops sustainable projects in disaster stricken regions of the world; and Treasurer for Trustar Youth Foundation. More recently, he was appointed to the Virginia Bankers Association as a member of the Lending Executives Committee and to the Board of Advisors for Junior Tennis Championship Center in College Park, MD.
Mr. Connors graduated from Centre College with a BS in Economics and holds an MBA from George Mason University.