After 52 years of service, James Hodges, president and CEO of First National Bank of Granbury, is retiring effective January 1, 2024. He will maintain a seat on the board of directors. Mark Webb, executive vice president and chief lending officer since 2015, has been tapped to succeed Hodges as president and CEO.
Hodges attended Texas Christian University on an athletic scholarship, lettering in football for two seasons and graduating with a BBA degree in 1969. He joined First National Bank of Granbury in 1971. In 1975, he was promoted to vice president/cashier, then to executive vice president/cashier in 1984 before being named president and CEO in 2015.
Born in Gorman and raised in Granbury, Hodges has been a First National Bank of Granbury board member since 1980. He is a member of the Texas Christian University Letterman’s Association and a founding director of the Granbury Education Foundation. He is a past president of the Granbury Optimist Club, Granbury Chamber of Commerce, Granbury Sports Association and Pirates Booster Club.
After graduating with a BBA degree in corporate finance from Texas Tech University, Webb launched his banking career in 1987 working for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in Austin and Fort Worth. “These years were marked by wide spread bank failures,” Webb recalls. “I benefitted from observing first-hand the myriad ways that risk impacts a bank’s financial statements. I remain dedicated never to forget the lessons learned during that crisis.”
Webb joined the First National Bank of Granbury in 1995 as a loan officer. He was promoted to senior vice president a few years later and was appointed to the board of directors in 2005. Active in the Granbury community, Webb has served as treasurer of the Pecan Plantation Home Owner’s Association, Granbury Opera House, Mambrino Baptist Church and Granbury/Hood County EMS. He currently leads a Sunday school class for “a small group of sweet, patient people” at Granbury Baptist Church, where he also serves as trustee.
“I’m looking forward to finishing up my work life as president and CEO,” Webb says. “The focus will be on serving customers while protecting the bank.”
Hodges reflected on his career in 2021 in a Hood County News article commemorating his 50th anniversary at the bank, noting that he doesn’t feel as much pressure and worry as he did earlier in his career and believes that “these are the good days.
Established in 1887, First National Bank of Granbury operates eight branches in Granbury, Cleburne and Tolar.
