TEXAS BANKING NEWS, PEOPLE and IDEAS
Neil Ferguson 
On July 25, Guaranty Bancshares Inc., the parent company of Mount Pleasant-based Guaranty Bank & Trust NA, announced that William D. “Bill” Priefert retired from the board of directors of Guaranty Bancshares Inc. and from the board of Guaranty Bank & Trust effective July 20. He has served as a director of the company for … Read more
Chace Shuler has joined Mount Pleasant-based Guaranty Bank & Trust as senior vice president/commercial lender in Addison. During his 18-year career in financial services, he has focused primarily on commercial real estate lending and relationship building. In addition to his banking experience, Shuler has earned certifications in FDIC contract oversight, FDIC asset management oversight and … Read more
Jacksonville-based Austin Bank and the Montgomery Area Chamber held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the newest Austin Bank location in Montgomery. The July 20 ceremony was well attended by the Austin Bank leadership team, employees, Texas State Senator Robert Nichols, members of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, friends and area business leaders. … Read more
On July 19, Independent Financial announced the completion of phase two of its $150 million headquarters campus in McKinney, Texas, supporting the organization’s expanding workforce. The new six-story, 198,000-square-foot building more than doubles Independent Financial’s existing presence at McKinney Corporate Center Craig Ranch and allows the organization to consolidate its banking operations and technology teams. … Read more
Bank of Texas, part of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based BOK Financial Corp., has expanded its Fort Worth corporate banking team with the addition of Bryson Bowden and John Gerdes. Bowden joins as team lead of the corporate banking team and Gerdes as relationship manager, both reporting to Fort Worth Region CEO Mark Nurdin. The corporate banking team … Read more
Houston-based Amegy Bank named Diane Maben chief operating officer in June. She was promoted to this newly created position after serving as Amegy Bank’s executive vice president and manager of administrative services. She will continue to provide direction to the operational functions of the bank and partner with the chief executive officer and president on … Read more
In late June, Longview-based Texas Bank and Trust Co. announced a number of recent promotions. Clay Thompson has been promoted to president of the bank’s eastern region. He has been employed by Texas Bank and Trust for more than five years, serving in various management capacities involving the bank’s credit analyst program, credit administration and … Read more
McKinney-based Independent Financial has added new associates to its middle-market banking team in both the Texas and Colorado markets. The new middle-market bankers are Christina “Crissy” Rivera, Jennifer Baggs Kamacioglu, Matthew Opheim and Jeff Gulczynski. Last year, the bank announced plans to double its growing middle-market portfolio over the next five years with a focus on … Read more
Justin Krebbs was recently promoted to community bank president for the Plano-Parkwood branch of Durant, Oklahoma-based First United Bank. He joined First United Bank in 2019 and has more than 22 years of banking experience specializing in all types of commercial lending, leading markets in Oklahoma and Texas and a track record of building high-performing … Read more
Dallas-based Comerica Bank has announced that Vickie Cohn will lead its Central and South Texas retail team, replacing Theresa Bazan, who recently was promoted to national sales enablement director for consumer and small business banking. In this senior vice president role, Cohn will be responsible for the development and leadership of the Austin, Kerrville, Houston and … Read more