New Sterling chairman paid $1.5 million

New Sterling Financial Corp. Chairman Les Biller was paid $1.5 million to accept the position, and will receive a total $4.5 million by Dec. 31, 2012, unless he resigns.

Biller’s compensation was listed in a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing also disclosed the resignatiion of all but four members of the Sterling board of directors following completion Thursday of a $730 million recapitalization.

The appointment of Biller, a former vice chairman of Wells Fargo, helped attract private investors who participated in the recapitalization. According to the letter offering Biller the job, he invested between $4 million and $7 million of his own money in Sterling.

Biller succeeds William “Ike” Eisenhart, who became chairman when Sterling co-founder Harold Gilkey was forced out last October by regulators.

Eisenhart remains on the board along with other holdovers Ellen Boyer, Michael Reuling, and Greg Seibly, Sterlings chief executive officer.