The SW Graduate School of Banking (SWGSB) at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University has announced new leadership and added three new trustees to its board of advisors. T. Gary Hudson, former president and CEO and current board member of Farmers & Merchant’s Bank, is the new SWGSB chair and R. Scott Heitkamp, president and CEO of ValueBank Texas, is the new vice chair. Christopher J. Furlow, president and CEO of Texas Bankers Association (TBA), continues as secretary.
The new members on SWGSB’s board of trustees are Sanford M. Brown, partner and co-chair of the financial services group at Alson & Bird; Greg Massey, chair and CEO of First United Bank & Trust; and Jan Mills, president and chair of First National Bank of Winnsboro.
“We look forward to their guidance as we continue to provide exceptional educational experiences as the nation’s leading graduate school of banking,” says William T. Chittenden, Ph.D., SWGSB president and CEO. “We also thank Victor R. Pierson, chair, president and CEO of Moody National Bank, and Darla R. Rooke, president and CEO of Junction National Bank, for their service to SWGSB as they rotate off our board of trustees.”
SWGSB’s new chair, T. Gary Hudson, is a member of the board of directors of Stuttgart, Arkansas-based Farmers & Merchants Bank. With approximately $1.65 billion in total assets, the bank operates 29 branches, which include eight operating in Northwest Arkansas doing business as The Bank of Fayetteville.
Hudson practiced law in DeWitt before becoming vice president and trust officer of Farmers & Merchants Bank in 1980. He became president and CEO of DeWitt Bank and Trust Co. in 1988 and returned to Farmers & Merchants as executive vice president and a member of the board of directors in 2002 when the bank built a branch in DeWitt. He was named president and CEO in 2009.
Hudson is a graduate of Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas School of Law and SWGSB. His career includes a long list of leadership roles in civic, business and educational organizations. He served on the Arkansas State Banking board for 10 years and was chair twice. His current community service includes Stuttgart Unlimited and the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce.
R. Scott Heitkamp, SWGSB vice chair, is president and CEO of Corpus Christi-based ValueBank Texas.
He is the current chair of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA). Heitkamp has served ICBA and the community banking industry for decades. He chairs the ICBA executive committee, as well as the board of directors, and is a member of organization‘s bank services, nominating and policy development committees. He is a former chair of ICBA’s federal delegate board, political action committee and membership/marketing committee. He is also former chair and current member of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.
Heitkamp is a graduate of Texas Tech University, where he received his BBA degree in finance. On the local level, he has served as chair on the Driscoll Hospital Development Foundation board of directors and is a current member of the board of the Texas State Aquarium. He is the previous chair of the San Patricio County Economic Development Corp. and is past president of the Aransas Pass Rotary Club. Heitkamp also is past president of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas Leadership Division and past advisory director of the Texas Tech School of Banking.
Christopher J. Furlow, SWGSB secretary, is president and CEO of the Texas Bankers Association, based in Austin. Founded in 1885, TBA is the oldest and largest state banking association in the U.S. Furlow previously served as president of Ridge Global, an international risk management consulting firm, for which he helped clients in financial services and other sectors leverage resilience for competitive advantage.
Furlow has an extensive background in complex policy/regulatory issues in both the public and private sectors. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, he was named director for state affairs in the White House Office of Homeland Security, serving as liaison to the nation’s governors. He was appointed executive director of the Homeland Security advisory council, leading operations of the department’s cross-disciplinary public and private sector committees and serving as a senior advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Furlow brings more than 25 years of legislative and political experience to TBA’s advocacy efforts. He is a member of the voter education committee of the American Bankers Association and a board member of the Coalition of Bankers Associations. He also serves on the Smith-Hutson Chair of Banking advisory board at Sam Houston State University.
New SWGSB trustee Sanford M. Brown, is partner and co-chair of the financial services group at Alston & Bird, based in Atlanta, Georgia. He counsels and represents financial institutions and specialty finance companies, as well as their shareholders and holding companies, in matters involving state and federal banking laws, regulations and enforcement actions; in corporate transactions—such as mergers, acquisitions, securities offerings and holding company matters; and on issues involving cybersecurity, privacy and identity theft.
Brown is a SWGSB faculty member and a frequent speaker at regional and national banking seminars and educational programs. He served in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from 1987 to 1989. His responsibilities included a wide range of matters relating to the regulation of national banks, including the development of banking policy in the areas of risk-based capital and dividends.
Brown is nationally ranked by Chambers USA in the “Financial Services Regulation: Financial Institutions M&A” category. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of “Banking and Finance and Financial Services Regulation,” including in the latter category as the Dallas/Fort Worth “Lawyer of the Year” in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2024.
Greg Massey, SWGSB trustee, is chair and CEO of Durant, Oklahoma-based First United Bank & Trust, which reports more than $16 billion in assets and serves more than 60 communities across Oklahoma and Texas. Under his leadership, First United Bank has achieved significant growth through innovative initiatives that prioritize culture, customer satisfaction and employee engagement.
Massey holds a degree in finance from Oklahoma State University (OSU) and is a SWGSB graduate. He actively serves on the boards of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Oklahoma Business Roundtable, Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and OSU Foundation.
SWGSB trustee Jan Mills serves as president and chair of First National Bank of Winnsboro, a $160-million community bank founded in 1893 in rural Northeast Texas. She launched her banking career at First National Bank four decades ago, making her way to her current positions in 2003 and 2006, respectively. Additionally, she serves as secretary/treasurer of the bank’s holding company, Etex Banco Inc.
Throughout her career, Mills has been involved in numerous organizations that support the financial services industry and is an advocate for community banking. Her greatest honor has been serving as the 137th chair of the Texas Bankers Association. She currently serves on the advisory board of the banking program at East Texas A&M University–Commerce. In 2022, Bank News magazine named her an “Outstanding Women in Banking” honoree.
Mills is an honors graduate of SMU Cox and a graduate with distinction in leadership from SWGSB. Her family’s SWGSB legacy spans three generations of Texas bankers, beginning with her father in 1968 and continuing with her son in 2025.
