Donald E. Royer Sr. — Senior EVP & General Counsel at Opus Bank

Mr. Donald E. Royer, Sr. also known as Don, has been General Counsel of Opus Bank since December 15, 2010 and serves as its Senior Executive Vice President. Mr. Royer is responsible for managing the legal affairs of Opus Bank. He served as Executive Vice President of Opus Bank since December 15, 2010. He served as a Consultant of Real Industry, Inc. (Signature Group Holdings Inc.) since October 2010. He served as Interim Acting Chief Operating Officer and Interim Acting Chief Legal Officer of Signature Group Holdings, Inc. from July 2010 to October 2010. Mr. Royer served as an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Signature Group Holdings Inc. (formerly, Fremont General Corporation ('Fremont')) from November 2007 to July 5, 2010. Mr. Royer served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Fremont Investment & Loan from 2007 to 2010. He served as a Consultant and actively represents various mortgage lending clients since 2007. He served as an Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. and its subsidiary Commercial Capital Bank from February 2006 to October 2006. Mr. Royer has more than a quarter century of experience representing large financial institutions and their subsidiary entities, as General Counsel, a Member of Senior Executive Management and as Corporate Secretary. Mr. Royer worked at Pite, Duncan & Melmet, LLP (PDM), where he served as Senior Litigation Counsel representing many of the largest residential lenders, loan servicers, banks and credit unions in the country. Prior to joining PDM, Mr. Royer served as an Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Downey Financial Corp. and its subsidiary, Downey Savings and Loan from 1991 to 2002. During his tenure at Downey, Mr. Royer handled Downey's legal affairs including; licensing, compliance, regulatory activities, federal and state examinations, review and preparation of policies and procedures for Retail Banking, Residential Lending, Loan Servicing, Information Systems and Human Resources. Mr. Royer was responsible for major contract negotiations, problem asset resolution and significant litigation management. From 1979 to December 1991, Mr. Royer served as an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of American Savings Bank, F.A., in addition to serving as retained Counsel from March 1991 to October 1991, with responsibility for a law department with 100 employees. From 1984 to 1988, Mr. Royer served as an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Financial Corporation of America (FCA), and American Savings and Loan Association. Mr. Royer was retained by a newly assembled management team in 1984. Mr. Royer worked to resolve $20 billion in problem loan assets, including numerous litigation matters, shareholder securities class and derivative claims. Prior thereto, Mr. Royer served as General Counsel for American Savings and Loan Association from 1979 to 1983 and began his legal career working at First Federal Savings from 1977 to 1979. From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Royer was in private practice as a sole Practitioner. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Royer worked at the Law Offices of Steven J. Melmet, Inc., a law firm representing major financial institutions, where he handled litigation for large financial institutions, banks, credit unions and thrift institutions, as well as nationwide mortgage lenders and mortgage servicing companies. Mr. Royer helped Downey's management and Board complete a State charter conversion for Downey to become a federal savings association and obtain shareholder approval to organize its parent, Downey Financial Corporation, as a unitary thrift holding company. Mr. Royer has held a distinguished thirty year legal and business career representing and working in the California financial services industry. Mr. Royer holds a B.A. from Arizona State University and a J.D. from Western State University College of Law.