Neeley, Independent Bankers Association of Texas’ General Counsel for 33 Years, to Retire in August

Karen Neeley, general counsel for the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) since 1989, has announced her planned retirement from IBAT “no later than August 31.” She chose the August 31 deadline to correspond with the due date for comments on the proposed revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act. “A fitting finale,” Neeley notes. “After … Read more

Banking Veteran Donnelly Joins Veritex Community Bank as Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Longtime banking veteran Phil Donnelly has joined Dallas-based Veritex Community Bank as senior executive vice president and general counsel. As a member of the bank’s executive leadership team, Donnelly will work hand-in-hand with senior management in developing and implementing bank-wide strategic business initiatives and in the creation of new procedures and protocols designed to strengthen … Read more

A Comment on Implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act

BAILEY ALLEN, PhD Student, Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University MIKE MAULDIN, Director of the Excellence in Banking Program, Texas Tech University DREW WINTERS, Pickering Chair in Finance, Texas Tech University The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (hereafter, Dodd-Frank Act) was created—according to the first paragraph of the act itself: “To … Read more

Kaplan to Retire as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

On September 27, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas announced that President and CEO Rob Kaplan will retire from the bank effective October 8, 2021. He has served as the 13th president and CEO of the Dallas Fed since 2015. Prior to that, he was the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and a senior … Read more

Turpen Joins Independent Bank Group as Chief Risk Officer

On July 15, McKinney-based Independent Bank Group Inc., the holding company for Independent Financial, expanded its executive leadership team with the appointment of John G. Turpen as executive vice president and chief risk officer, effective July 26. He will oversee the company’s enterprise risk management and compliance functions and support credit risk and administration. Turpen … Read more

Dallas Fed Names Velez Assistant Vice President

Yaira Velez has joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas as an assistant vice president in the banking supervision department, where she will provide strategic leadership for the consumer affairs team. She previously served as manager of consumer affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where she led nationwide projects to enhance the … Read more

Citizens Bank Promotes Cozart, Jackson, McKnight and Pearson

Kilgore-based Citizens Bank announced the promotions of four of its officers at the Kilgore and Plano locations. Michael Cozart has been promoted to vice president by the board of directors. He joined Citizens Bank in 2014 as a credit analyst in the bank’s location in The Woodlands. In 2017, he was promoted to assistant vice … Read more

Building—and Rebuilding—the Texas Economy One Business at a Time

As COVID vaccinations increase and mask mandates subside, businesses are beginning to draw sighs of relief, hoping that the worst is behind us and the future brings some sense of normalcy. But there is no doubt that the past 14 months have been fraught with anxiety, not only for the health of our population, but … Read more

Yoakum National Bank Promotes Morkovsky to Controller, Baranowski to COO

Yoakum-based Yoakum National Bank recently announced the promotion of two team members. Sandra Morkovsky has been named vice president/controller. Additional duties include bank compliance and audit, and she also serves as the bank’s BSA officer. Morkovsky has worked at Yoakum National Bank since 1998, previously responsible for the bank’s non-traditional deposit office through NFA Wealth … Read more

Staying Socially Connected in a Socially Distanced World

Let’s be honest, COVID-19 is not going away. But social distancing is being replaced with reasonable reopening. As I write this, the news feeds report that 21 reopened states have increasing rates of infection. That means that businesses need to be smart about how they bring customers back in, but it is not likely that … Read more