Sterling sharpening.

• Position: CHARLOTTE REGION - Park Sterling Bank - Financial report

CEO Jim Cherry says Park Sterling Bank is happy being in the middle of larger and smaller rivals as a $2.4 billion, 53-branch institution in the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia. In 2006, Park Sterling raised a state record $45 million in startup capital just in time for the worst financial crisis in generations. The bank was recapitalized in 2010 with $150 million, coinciding with the addition of former Wachovia CEO Bud Baker as chairman. After losing money previously, the bank had net profits totaling about $32 million over the last three years. It ranked first in percentage growth of assets and deposits over the last four years compared with 17 other banks in its region with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets, according to a company report in February. Even so, the growth hasn't met the bank's 2010 projections of reaching $6 billion in assets within five years. "At the beginning, acquisitions were more important to us so we could get scale and offer our customers more products," Cherry says. "Now that we've gotten scale, that enables us to be much more organically focused." Park Sterling has 19 offices and half of its assets in Charlotte, while 15...