[LOGO]                               Contact:   Greg B. Spear
                                                CFO and Executive Vice President
                                                541/298-6612
                                                gspear@columbiabancorp.com
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      TERRY L. COCHRAN APPOINTED PRESIDENT AND CEO OF COLUMBIA BANCORP AND
                               COLUMBIA RIVER BANK

      The Dalles, OR - October 8, 2008 - Columbia Bancorp (NASDAQ: CBBO) today
      announced that Terry L. Cochran has been appointed president and chief
      executive officer (CEO) of Columbia River Bank and Columbia Bancorp.

      Terry Cochran is a former president, CEO and director of Columbia Bancorp
      and Columbia River Bank--serving the bank from 1981 until 2001. A 42-year
      banking professional, Cochran is a graduate of Washington State University
      and Pacific Coast Banking School. He is also a former president of the
      Oregon Bankers Association (OBA), and was inducted into the OBA Hall of
      Fame in 2001. Cochran's office will be based in The Dalles.

      Cochran succeeds Roger Christensen as CEO, who resigned his position for
      personal reasons. He also replaces Craig Ortega as president. Ortega will
      remain an executive officer at Columbia River Bank and will continue as an
      integral member of the organization.

      Columbia Bancorp's Chairman of the Board Rich Betz said, "The combination
      of Terry's remarkable banking career and deep experience in our markets
      and organization puts Columbia River Bank in an excellent position as we
      continue our mission to be the finest bank in the Pacific Northwest."

      "These are extraordinary times for not only our bank and communities, but
      the entire economic market," says Cochran. "I am excited about the future
      of Columbia River Bank. We have a trained staff offering excellent
      products and services, and we will continue to deliver those products and
      services in the quality manner which has set us apart from other financial
      service providers over the past 30 years."


      ABOUT COLUMBIA BANCORP

      Columbia Bancorp (www.columbiabancorp.com) is the financial holding
      company for Columbia River Bank, which operates 22 branches located in The
      Dalles (2), Hood River, Bend (3), Madras, Redmond (2), Pendleton,
      Hermiston, McMinnville, Lake Oswego, Canby, and Newberg, Oregon, and in
      Goldendale, White Salmon, Sunnyside, Yakima, Vancouver, Pasco and
      Richland, Washington. To supplement its community banking services,
      Columbia River Bank also provides brokerage services through CRB Financial
      Services Team.


      FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

      This press release contains various forward-looking statements about plans
      and anticipated results of operations and financial condition relating to
      Columbia Bancorp. These statements include statements about management's
      present plans and intentions about our strategy, growth, and deployment of
      resources, and about management's expectations for future financial
      performance. Readers can sometimes identify forward-looking statements by
      the use of prospective language and context, including words like "may",
      "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "continue", "plans",
      "intends", or other similar terminology. Because forward-looking
      statements are, in part, an attempt to project future events and explain
      management's current plans, they are subject to various risks and
      uncertainties which could cause our actions and our financial and
      operational results to differ materially from those set forth in such
      statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our
      ability to estimate accurately the collectability of our loans, economic
      and other factors which affect the collectability of our loans, the impact
      of banking laws and regulations, competition, and fluctuations in market
      interest rates on Columbia's revenues and margins, management's ability to
      generate growth from core operations in the face of the announced staffing
      reductions, and other risks and uncertainties that we have in the past, or
      that we may from time to time in the future, detail in our filings with
      the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Information presented in
      this release is accurate as of the date on which the release was issued,
      and we cannot undertake to update our forward-looking statements or the
      factors that may cause us to deviate from them, except as required by law.

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