Jeff Austin III, chairman of the board of Jacksonville-based Austin Bank, recently announced a number of employee promotions.
Misde Shillings has been elected executive vice president. She joined the Austin Bank team in 2019 as a senior vice president and controller. Prior to joining the bank, she spent 10 years at Happy State Bank and has more than 25 years of accounting experience. Shillings is a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma and the Texas Tech School of Banking. She also holds a certification in Lean Six Sigma, a performance improvement program that helps companies run more efficiently.
Jeff Sowell has been promoted to executive vice president. A member of the team since 2000, he started as a computer support specialist and has spent the past 24 years ensuring network systems are available and employees have the tools needed to conduct business. Sowell was promoted to network support manager in 2005, vice president in 2010 and senior vice president and chief technology officer in 2021. He is a graduate of Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas–Tyler, and has completed the Austin Bank leadership class. Prior to joining the bank, Sowell worked for Tyler ISD as a network technician for two years and served with the 19th Airborne Corps of the U.S. Army for four years.
Laurie Adams has been named senior vice president. With a banking career spanning more than 29 years, she joined the Austin Bank family with the acquisition of First National Bank of Bullard in 2004. She has worked in several offices and departments at the bank, including teller and customer service representative at Jacksonville South and Tyler’s Cumberland Park, before transitioning to the risk management department in 2013 as the Bank Secrecy Act assistant. Adams was promoted to assistant BSA officer in 2015, assistant vice president in 2019 and vice president in 2020. She was named BSA and OFAC officer in 2021. Adams earned her BBA degree from the University of Texas–Tyler. She has completed Austin Bank’s Leadership 1 training, is a certified customer service representative and a certified anti-money laundering specialist through the Institute of Certified Bankers.
Crystal Bateman has been promoted to senior vice president. She began her career with the bank in 2004 as a teller in the Whitehouse location, relocating to Jacksonville as a loan assistant shortly thereafter. She became a loan portfolio manager in 2009 and was promoted to assistant vice president, lending officer and relationship manager in 2013. Bateman was named vice president in 2017. She holds a finance degree from the University of Texas–Tyler and has completed Lending School I and II, as well as the Jacksonville Leadership Program.
Scott Moseley was elected senior vice president. Currently serving as location president in Van, he became a member of the Austin Bank team in 1998 as a loan officer. He was promoted to branch manager in 2004, to location president in 2005 and in 2017 he was named vice president. Moseley is a graduate of the University of Texas–Tyler.
Diana Murray has been promoted to senior vice president. With more than 17 years of banking experience, she joined Austin Bank in 2018 as a vice president and compliance and project analyst. She works in the Longview Greggton office. Her experience includes the areas of compliance, audit, BSA, CRA, HMDA, Fair Lending and project implementation. Murray is a graduate of Midland College and Angelo State University. She has earned both the certified regulator compliance manger and certified anti-money laundering specialist titles in 2014 and 2022 respectively. Diana is currently a junior in the SW Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.
Claudia Rogers has been named senior vice president. She currently serves as the location president in Grand Saline, a position she has held since 2005. Joining the team in 1998 as a loan officer, she moved to assistant manager, then branch operations manager before assuming her current role. Rogers brought with her lending and management experience from other local banks and a home health care company when she joined. She was promoted to vice president in 2017. She has completed the Austin Bank leadership class.
Alisha Tarrant was elected senior vice president. She is a relationship manger working from the bank’s Jacksonville main location. She came to work for the company in 1992 in the bookkeeping department and has served as commercial lending secretary, administrative officer, lending officer and community lender before moving to her current role in 2012. She was named vice president in 2017. Tarrant attended Tyler Junior College and holds a bachelor’s degree in general studies and a master’s degree in agribusiness from Texas Tech University.
Jabralon Allen has been promoted to vice president. He joined the bank in 2021 as an assistant vice president and relationship manager in the Frankston office. He attended Stephen F. Austin University on a football scholarship and graduated with a BBA degree in accounting. Allen recently moved to the bank’s Creekside Park location in The Woodlands.
Nancy Guzman was elected vice president. She joined the Austin Bank family in 2015 and has more than 22 years of human resource experience. Her expertise includes payroll, health and employment benefits, recruiting and other areas associated with HR. Since joining the bank, Guzman has implemented new software programs, updated the HR intranet site, helped develop new policies and served as liaison with office management to communicate and provide training.
Brandi Morton has been named vice president. She is a relationship manager working in the bank’s Kilgore office. She joined the Austin Bank team in 2009 as a credit analyst. Morton moved to her current role in Kilgore in 2018 and was promoted to assistant vice president in 2021.
Jaleea Downs, vice president and relationship manager, has been promoted to location president in the Rusk office. She joined the bank in 2006 as a loan assistant. Downs is a graduate of Angelina College and Stephen F. Austin State University. In addition, she has completed the American Bankers Association National Commercial Lending School.
Jenny Huddleston was named assistant retail market manager for the bank’s Southwest region. She currently serves as vice president and retail office manager in Palestine. She will continue to oversee operations in Palestine while also assuming new duties for the region. Huddleston joined the bank in 2017 as a customer service representative, bringing with her eight years of prior banking experience. She was promoted to retail office manager in 2018, assistant vice president in 2020 and vice president in 2022.
Shelley Cook, retail office manager in Emory, has been promoted to assistant vice president. A member of the Austin Bank team since 2005 and with more than 24 years of banking experience, she started with the bank as a teller. She moved to the customer service representative position and then to retail office manager in the Garrison office, prior to moving to the Emory location in 2018. Cook has completed both the Austin Bank Customer Service Representative’s school and Leadership Program.
Luti Ortega was named assistant vice president. She is a relationship manager working from the bank’s Tyler Med Center location where she moved in 2016 after beginning her career with the bank in 2001 at the Jacksonville South location. Ortega worked as a teller, customer service representative and loan assistant before assuming her current role.
Ryan Reynolds has been elected assistant vice president. He came to work for the bank in 2022 as a credit analyst. He was promoted to relationship manager in 2023 and now works in the Longview Oak Forest office. Reynolds holds a degree in business management from Texas A&M University.
Courtney Watts was promoted to assistant vice president. She has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry and has spent the past 16 years with Austin Bank. Currently serving as the retail office manager at the Noonday location, she has held many positions within the bank, including floater teller, customer service representative, banking officer and universal banker. Watts has completed the Austin Bank Leadership Program and is an American Bankers Association certified customer service representative.
Mariella Ramirez has been elected banking officer. She currently serves as teller operations supervisor in the bank’s Jacksonville South office. Ramirez attended Jacksonville College and earned an associate degree from Tyler Junior College. She joined the Austin Bank team in 2016 as a teller and was promoted to her current position in 2018.
Kayla Martinez was promoted to retail office manager and will oversee retail operations at the Longview Greggton office. She joined the bank in 2021 as a teller in the Kilgore location, bringing with her several years of experience in leadership and management from other industries. Martinez moved to the teller operations supervisor position at Longview Loop in 2022 and then moved to a universal banker position in Longview Pine Tree earlier this year.
Established in 1900, Austin Bank operates 36 East Texas locations within 26 cities and 14 counties. Austin Bank is locally owned and operated by the Austin Family, which is celebrating 114 years of service in the Texas banking industry.
