Square 1 Bank, aiming to build connections with the entrepreneurial communities of Southern California, has named an executive to oversee those efforts.

Mark Breneman has joined the Durham-based bank as senior vice president covering the Los Angeles and Orange County region. Breneman, who worked in the Technology and Venture Banking group at Wells Fargo, will be based in Orange County. He’ll be responsible for building Square 1’s portfolio of clients in technology and life sciences. Square 1 focuses on providing banking services to entrepreneurs and the venture capital community.

Besides his work at Wells Fargo, Breneman has also held leadership roles at Silicon Valley Bank in Southern California, where he managed that firm’s Los Angeles office and founded the Emerging Technology practice focused on consulting pre-venture backed startups in the Southern California region. Breneman has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.