Amir Zabrani is the 2022 Alumni Rising ` Runner for the School of Business and Public Administration. Each spring during Homecoming Week, the Rising ` Runner program recognizes CSUB alumni of the last 10 years who are already making an impact in their career and community.
When a new business comes to Kern County, you may have Amir Zabrani to thank.
The California State University, Bakersfield alumnus currently works as the vice president/senior relationship manager for Mission Bank, managing a portfolio of the bank’s commercial, industrial and real-estate customers in the Central Valley.
Zabrani was hired for the position in 2020. Prior to that, he worked at Wells Fargo for seven years, most of which involved commercial banking.
“I enjoy helping businesses with their capital needs, helping them grow,” he said. “By doing that, I think I’m giving a lot back to the community, because local businesses employ individuals and are also giving back. I just wanted to be part of that cycle where you’re helping the community grow.”
Zabrani didn’t always want to work in commercial banking. In 2010, about a year after he moved with his family to the U.S. from his native country of Pakistan, he enrolled at College of the Sequoias in Visalia and graduated in 2012 with an associate degree in accounting.
He then transferred to CSUB later that year with the intention to obtain a bachelor’s degree with a focus on accounting. That changed after Zabrani was informed by an adviser that he only needed to take a few finance classes to graduate with a double concentration. He decided to go for it and found finance to be better suited to his passions.
That feeling was solidified in the summer of 2013, when Zabrani had the chance to work as an intern at Wells Fargo as a financial analyst. Shortly after graduating in 2014 with his bachelor’s in business administration, he was hired full-time by Wells Fargo.
“Over the years, the hard work has really paid off in terms of my experience and upward mobility within Wells Fargo and now Mission Bank,” he said. “It’s been very rewarding from a personal and financial standpoint and also from a career growth standpoint. I think hard work gets rewarded no matter which industry or business you’re a part of.”
Zabrani said he enjoyed his time at CSUB and is grateful to the university for helping put him on his career path.
“It’s a very welcoming environment. I spent a lot of quality time on campus learning,” he said. “CSUB does a fantastic job in preparing you for your next step, which is getting a professional job. They have a variety of resources for students.”
Zabrani has stayed connected with the university over the years. He is a CSUB Alumni Association member and has served on the Accounting and Finance Department’s Accounting Advisory Board since 2016. He also works with department faculty members to offer internship opportunities to students.
Zabrani isn’t planning to make a shift from commercial banking anytime soon. He hopes to have a higher leadership role within the next few years, either at Mission Bank or another institution.
“I want to be in a field where I can give back but also progress in my career at the same time, and I found that sweet spot with commercial banking,” he said.
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