Diligence Capital attempted to engage with Eagle Bancorp (Nasdaq: EGBN, Bethesda, MD) to enhance its board and adopt four shareholder proposals
SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, March 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Today Diligence Capital Management (“Diligence”) submitted an open letter to the Board of Directors of Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGBN; the “Bank” or the “Company”). Beginning in early October 2025, Diligence has engaged with various members of Eagle’s board and management team in an effort to take meaningful and decisive steps to restore the Company to a strong financial institution in a timely fashion.
James R. Abbott, Chief Investment Officer of Diligence, stated, “We are enthusiastic about the prospects of helping to restore Eagle Bancorp to a strong financial institution; we continue to offer three board candidates that each bring expertise in turning around banks that are experiencing significant commercial real estate challenges.” Abbott continued, “In mid-October, we met with certain members of Eagle Bancorp’s board including then-Chair and CEO Susan Riel. At that time, we proposed to the board that Eagle split its Chair and CEO roles – which is considered best corporate governance practices by many shareholders, and that CEO Riel step down from the CEO seat and replace that position with someone who had extensive experience in rehabilitating banking organizations. In early November 2025, the Board began to pursue such a path by separating the Chair and CEO roles and announcing that Ms. Riel would be retiring in 2026 and that the Company has initiated a professional search for a new CEO. We were encouraged with the quick progress.” Abbott concluded, “However, we are disappointed at a lack of timely adoption of our other proposals such as adding bank turnaround expertise to the Board, expeditiously selecting a new CEO who has bank turnaround experience, and establishing a multi-year performance improvement plan that is clearly articulated to investors and to which a very substantial percentage of compensation for senior executives is tied.”
In December 2025 Diligence submitted its formal notification to Eagle for an alternative slate of board members to include the aforementioned three new members that have experience in bank turnaround situations. As part of its submission, Diligence recommended a replacement of the newly-elected Chairman, Mr. James A. Soltesz.
For additional information including a copy of today’s open letter to the Company’s board as well as the slate of directors and the four shareholder proposals submitted by Diligence to the Bank in December 2025, please refer to the following website:
https://dg5lb5d.short.gy/EagleBancorpOpenLetter-2026-03-20
About Diligence Capital Management
Formed in 2024, Diligence Capital Management (“Diligence”) is a financial sector-focused fund sponsor with a business owner mindset. Diligence seeks to drive long-term investment outperformance by conducting deep fundamental research using the expertise gained by working as senior analysts at various capital markets firms as well as senior executives at and board advisors to publicly-traded financial services companies. Additionally, Diligence seeks to add investment outperformance through shareholder engagement and activism.
Investors and Media Contact:
James Abbott, CEO and CIO
(801) 783-3233
James Abbott
Diligence Capital Management, LLC
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