Tim Jochner, Chairman & C.E.O • Jim Bek, EVP & Chief Credit Officer

Tim Jochner, Chairman & C.E.O
Tim Jochner, a veteran of the Small Business industry, is currently President and Chairman of Superior Financial Group LLC, Walnut Creek, California. Formerly President and CEO of Innovative Bank and E.V.P. of Superior Bankcard Service, Tim left SBS one year after the merger with publicly traded Nova Corporation in September of 1999.

Tim originally opened Superior Bankcard Service in November 1994 with Partner Joe Kaplan with the belief that first-rate service organizations are built by providing the best customer service in the industry. That philosophy paid off, because in less than one year SBS became the 12th largest non-bank acquirer in the United States. Due to the excellent service and dedication to customers and employees, Tim earned numerous honors during his years at SBS. First came the Arthur Andersen Award for Best Business Practices in Customer Satisfaction, which acknowledged his innovative approach to customer service. Next, came the 1998 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award commending Tim and Joe for creating an immensely successful company that provided quality service to its customers. And finally Tim was honored with both the US Chamber of Commerce Blue Chip Enterprise Award, which is a program that recognizes businesses for overcoming adversity in business, ultimately achieving success, and the U.S. Association for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurships as the Corporate Entrepreneurs of the Year. In June 2002 Entrepreneur Magazine named Innovative Merchant Solutions #6 of the Hot 100 businesses in the United States.

Innovative Merchant Solutions is a full service bankcard acquirer that was founded in October 1999 with the same excellent business principals that made SBS a success. The attention to detail and the emphasis on quality customer service are the hallmarks that continue to bring Tim the success he has experienced in the past. With many valuable lessons learned, he possesses the wisdom needed to build an award winning organization focused on the needs of the clients. Innovative Merchant Solutions' motto "today's partner for tomorrow's business" explains how Tim feels about his commitment to the customers. Using his true passion for the bankcard industry, he has once again built a successful, customer oriented organization.

In 2001 Tim and Joe founded Innovative Bank, located in Oakland, California. Tim served as Chairman of the Board on the board of directors and actively participated in the management of the bank as CEO. One strategic focus of the bank was the offering of SBA loans. Innovative Bank quickly became the 4th largest SBA lender in the United States.

A division of Innovative Merchant Solutions, Innovative Gateway was established in the summer of 2002 to provide a secure payment gateway to IMS' bankcard customers. The service has grown to over 21,000 merchants since its inception. Innovative Gateway is a leading provider of Internet-based transaction processing services, offering the online merchant an innovative set of fully automated solutions for taking payments over the Internet. Innovative Gateway Solutions acts as a "Gateway" for credit card transactions and offers real time approval of transactions with a variety of fraud screening and verification tools.

In 2003 IMS merged with world-known financial software leader, INTUIT, Inc. Both organizations shared the same passion for servicing customers and offering quality products and services, making the merger a natural fit. Since that time, both companies have worked together to emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the bankcard industry. Offering payment systems that are integrated with well known accounting software have revolutionized how payment processing is perceived by customers. The service that IMS provides is now more of a business management solution rather than just a payment processing solution.

Tim began his bankcard career in 1987 while holding the position of Bankcard Manager for Bank Of Oakland. Tim also successfully owns and operates a winery in Walnut Creek California, and A Vineyard management company. Tim continues to be involved in his community volunteering as a Varsity High school Baseball Coach and sits on the board of directors of The Northgate Community Pride Foundation. Tim Attended Fresno state university where he was awarded "Scholar Athlete" status on a baseball team that ranked as high as 12th in the nation. He has been a guest speaker and panelist for numerous Banking conventions, and Merchant processing learning seminars.


Jim Bek, EVP & Chief Credit Officer
Jim was born and raised in Southern California. As a proud son and nephew of World War II veterans (his father a B-17 Pilot and his uncle a B-17 Navigator killed as a prisoner of war) he has a special appreciation for those that serve our country through their military service.

Jim has been in financial services for 25 years. Initially in consumer lending and banking Jim eventually gravitated towards commercial/business lending. After working for a couple large banks as a Branch Loan Officer, Jim went to work for a small commercial bank as a Commercial Loan Officer where he was surrounded by a group of very talented and experienced community lenders. He attributes this experience as key to his overall commercial lending knowledge. In addition to learning a great deal about commercial lending, Jim found the smaller company atmosphere more appealing. He was drawn towards the greater freedom and greater responsibilities that came with it.

A new opportunity introduced Jim to SBA 7(a) lending in the early 90's where he became a SBA Loan Officer. Since then Jim has remained a part of the SBA 7(a) lending industry. In 2001 he met Tim Jochner through the acquisition of Bank of Oakland, where Jim was working as a V.P. of SBA Lending. The two of them have been working together ever since. Shortly after the sale of Innovative Bank (formerly Bank of Oakland) in 2005 Jim departed his position as SVP and Chief Credit Officer to join with Tim to begin Superior Financial Group. Since its inception Superior Financial Group (SFG) has grown to become the #2 SBA (7a) lender in the country by number of loans made. In just under 3 years of lending SFG has reached more than 5,300 small businesses across the country through the SBA's Community Express and Patriot Express Pilot Loan Programs. In 2009 SFG is currently the top Community and Patriot Express lender in number of loans made. Jim and his wife have two sons, ages 19 and 20, who are both attending college. When not working Jim enjoys cycling and an occasional home improvement project (and a cold beer!). He hopes to expand his car collection one day when he's done paying for his son's college education.