Hagerson returns: Lee B. Hagerson returned as...

Hagerson returns: Lee B. Hagerson returned as head of an Orange County savings and loan when regulators recently approved, as expected, the acquisition of Universal Savings Bank in Orange by Taiwanese businessman J.S. Chang.

“It’s nice to be back in Orange County,” Hagerson said after his first two weeks on the job. “I have a lot of good friends, and it’s just a nice place to be.”

Hagerson, who has 30 years of experience in commercial banking and thrift industries, had been an industry consultant in Orange County and was president of Westmark Savings Bank in Newport Beach when it was sold three years ago and moved to Sherman Oaks.

Hagerson doesn’t have a lot to say yet about the direction Universal will take.

“I’ve got a lot to do. I’ve got a mountain to climb,” he said. “The big thing is getting a handle on things, then we’ll decide what we’re going to do.”

He knows, though, that new owner J.S. Chang, a Taiwanese shoe tycoon, has sufficient funds to help the S&L; grow. Universal, a healthy thrift with eight branches, was sold to Chang for more than $13 million by Unity Corp. Ltd. of Sydney, which is run by Australian magnate Garry Carter. He has been peddling the thrift ever since regulators seized his institution three years ago, alleging that it was about to ship $10 million in loans to him illegally. A state court threw the regulators out and returned the thrift to Unity.