Exhibit 31.1

# Certification of
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Rule 13a-14(a) or 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934

I, Paul E. Menzel, certify that:

|1. | I
have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-KSB of Ridgestone Financial
          Services, Inc.;
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|2. | Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
          material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements
          made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
          misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
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|3. | Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
          included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
          condition, results of operations and cash flows of the small business issuer as
          of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
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|4. | The
small business issuers other certifying officer and I are responsible           for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined           in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the small business issuer and
          have:
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| | (a) | Designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
                    controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
ensure that                     material information relating to the small business
issuer, including its                     consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
by others within those entities,                     particularly during the period in
which this report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Evaluated
the effectiveness of the small business issuers disclosure
                    controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
about the                     effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
of the end of the                     period covered by this report based on such
evaluation; and
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| | (c) | Disclosed
in this report any change in the small business issuers
                    internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
small                     business issuers most recent fiscal quarter (the small
business                     issuers fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
report) that has                     materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
materially affect, the small                     business issuers internal control
over financial reporting; and
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|5. | The
small business issuers other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
          based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
          reporting, to the small business issuers auditors and the audit committee
          of the small business issuers board of directors (or persons performing
          the equivalent functions):
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| | (a) | All
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation
                    of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
likely to                     adversely affect the small business issuers ability
to record, process,                     summarize and report financial information; and
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| | (b) | Any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees
                    who have a significant role in the small business issuers
internal control                     over financial reporting.
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Date:   March 23, 2004

|/s/ Paul E. Menzel                                             
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|Paul E. MenzelChairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer