Sterling Bancorp, of which the principal subsidiary is Sterling National Bank, announced it has added veteran technology bankers John Hoesley and Josh Roberts to lead its newly created Innovation Finance Group.

The Innovation Finance Group will focus on providing a full suite of lending and banking products to growing technology companies across all stages of development, including asset-based solutions, recurring revenue-based revolving lines of credit, treasury management, foreign exchange and other solutions.

“We are excited to establish a team that can meet the needs of the rapidly expanding technology sector,” said Tom Geisel, Sterling Corporate Banking President. “Under John and Josh’s leadership, we will provide a unique offering of efficient banking solutions to diversified companies and facilitate their ongoing growth and development.”

Hoesley comes to Sterling from CIBC Bank USA where he and Roberts established the Innovation Banking group in late 2014. He previously led the Midwest region for Silicon Valley Bank and was a partner at Prism Capital, a middle-market provider of venture capital and mezzanine debt. Hoesley has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Roberts brings nearly 20 years of banking experience to Sterling. He was a technology banker with Wells Fargo Securities and RBC Capital Markets before he and Hoesley launched CIBC’s Innovation Banking practice. Most recently, he was a senior technology underwriter for SunTrust. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.