Mission Community Bancorp has announced it will open a loan production office in Santa Maria within two months and hopes to have a full-service branch of Mission Community Bank open in the city by the first of next year.

As part of its expansion into the city, a Nipomo area man has been named president of Mission Community Bank.

At the same time, the corporation also has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares of its common stock.

Brooks W. Wise has been named president of Mission Community Bank, said Anita M. Robinson, president and chief executive officer of Mission Community Bancorp and CEO of Mission Community Bank.

He also will serve as a member of the board of directors of both Mission Community Bank and Mission Community Bancorp, said Robinson, who will continue as CEO of the bank.

Wise will initially be based in Santa Maria, where Mission Community Bank will establish a loan production office within 40 to 45 days, Robinson said.

She said Wise was hired because &#8220he/s great. He/s very active in the community, and that/s what we needed.C

Wise has 24 years of business banking and business development experience, serving for the last 11 years with Union Bank of California, most recently as regional vice president of Los Angeles Business Banking, with responsibilities covering Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.

His hiring &#8220kind of goes hand in handC with the stock sale, which she said is a move to take the bank to &#8220its next level.C

&#8220We/re looking forward to Brooks joining us,C she said. &#8220We/re getting ready to open a loan production office in Santa Maria and expanding the business.

&#8220We/d like to be in a full-service office (in Santa Maria) by early next year,C she added. &#8220If we can do it sooner, that/s good.C

The shares will be sold on a &#8220best effortsC basis. Robinson said that means the corporation has set a goal of how much money it wants to raise, but if the goal is not met, the corporation can still close the offering.

Seapower Carpenter Capital Inc., doing business as Carpenter & Co., will act as the selling agent.

When available, a copy of the final prospectus may be obtained from Seapower Carpenter Capital Inc., 5 Park Plaza, Suite 950, Irvine, CA 92614 or by calling (949) 261-8888.

A registration statement relating to the securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective.

The securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.

Copies of filings made with the SEC are available though the commission/s electronic data gathering analysis and retrieval system at www.sec.gov.

Mission Community Bank is a San Luis Obispo-based community bank with offices in Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles and a business banking center in San Luis Obispo.

Its headquarters are at 581 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo, and can be reached by calling 782-5000.

The bank has received several awards for meeting community needs in small business lending and development banking services, has earned an Outstanding rating for its Community Reinvestment Act activities and is a Small Business Administration Preferred Lender.

For more information, visit www.MissionCommunity

Bank.com.

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@santa mariatimes.com.

June 16, 2007