On January 2, Winter Haven, Florida-based SouthState Corp. announced the closing of its acquisition of Independent Bank Group Inc. through the merger of McKinney-based Independent Financial with and into SouthState. Immediately after the January 1 merger, Independent Financial’s subsidiary bank, Independent Bank, merged with and into SouthState Bank NA. As a result of these transactions, the combined company has expanded its presence in Texas, entered Colorado and increased its asset size to approximately $65 billion.
In connection with the merger, the company announced the appointment of three Independent Financial directors to the boards of SouthState and SouthState Bank, increasing the size of each board from 12 to 15 members.
David R. Brooks, former Independent Financial chairman and CEO, began his banking career in the early 1980s and has been active in community banking since he led the investor group that acquired Independent Bank in 1988. Brooks currently serves as chairman of Capital Southwest Corp. and previously served as the chief financial officer at Baylor University from 2000 to 2004. In 2018, Brooks was inducted into the Texas Bankers Hall of Fame.
Janet Froetscher, former director of Independent Financial, currently serves as president of the J.B and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, a private foundation committed to innovative strategies for solving society’s most challenging problems, a position she has held since 2016. Previously, Froetscher was the CEO of Special Olympics from 2013 to 2016, for which she led a global team with operations and affiliates in more than 170 countries. She is a board member of the Cboe Global Markets.
G. Stacy Smith, former lead independent director of Independent Financial, is the managing partner of SCW Capital LP, a private equity hedge fund focusing on financial and energy sectors. He is also a co-founder of and an active partner in Trinity Investment Group, which invests in private equity, public equity and hard assets. In addition, he serves as an advisor of EAW Energy Partners, an oil and gas minerals acquisition firm.
Established in 1992, SouthState Bank serves more than 1.5 million customers throughout Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, Georgia, Colorado, Alabama and Virginia.
