RTC to Name New Director for West Coast

COSTA MESA —  The federal agency that manages and liquidates failed savings and loans will name a new director soon for its West Coast office, which would make the fourth new manager since the office opened 14 months ago.

The new director must first be approved by Resolution Trust Corp. officials in Washington, and a decision is expected within the next few weeks.

The new director will replace J. Michael Berry, who had been the chief manager for the past seven months and will likely stay on in another capacity.

Meantime, the two top deputies for the RTC’s Costa Mesa operation have left, said Sherwin Koopmans, director of the RTC’s western regional headquarters in Denver.

Koopmans said he and the new director will fill the positions left vacant by J. Alan Blodgett, who went on administrative leave, and Dale Duncan, who quit to return to the private sector.

The Costa Mesa office is one of three consolidated offices in seven states that report to Denver, which is one of RTC’s four regional headquarters. Called the Coastal Consolidated Office, the Costa Mesa office is the largest consolidated office in the nation.

The office handles $9 billion in assets from defunct thrifts in California and operates 11 other failed thrifts that have a total of about $26 billion in assets. It also covers Hawaii and Guam, but there are no failed thrifts there.

In April, it had 361 employees and planned to hire 240 more by the end of the year. It has outgrown its current working quarters in the old Pacific Savings Bank and is expected to lease up to 200,000 square feet of space in a Koll Co. building in Newport Beach.

The fast growth of the Costa Mesa office was the major reason that Berry was replaced, Koopmans said. The added responsibility raised the executive grade pay level up a notch, forcing the agency to advertise the position as open.

Berry is being paid an annual salary of $95,000 plus a $15,000 cost-of-living adjustment for working in Southern California. The new position pays up to $115,000, plus an adjustment of up to $17,000.

Berry was one of 300 applicants and one of 14 people who interviewed for the post, Koopmans said, but the Denver office decided to hire a new executive. Despite reports of differences between Berry and his superiors, Koopmans praised Berry as a “valuable member of the management team.”

“He plans to stay on and we want him to stay on, either in the coastal office or elsewhere,” Koopmans said. The regional director also had high praise for Blodgett and Duncan.

Late last October, Berry replaced Thomas S. Ruth, who had been acting director for three months. Ruth, who has remained with the agency, was filling in for the first director, James G. Klingensmith, who left after only three months on the job. The RTC would not explain the reason for Klingensmith’s departure.