Huntington Hires Ex-CEO Of a Georgia Bank to Run Its Subsidiary in

Richard A. McNeece, who quit as chairman of a Georgia bank a year ago after losing support from a group of shareholders, has joined Huntington Bancshares as head of its Michigan subsidiary.

The 57-year-old Mr. McNeece replaced Charles S. Kassab Monday as chairman and chief executive of Huntington Banks of Michigan.

Mr. Kassab, 67, will officially retire on Sept. 1. He remains a director of the Michigan bank.

Mr. McNeece, a Florida native, is a 27-year veteran of the banking industry. He most recently served as chairman and chief executive of First National Bancorp of Gainesville, Ga.

In an interview, Mr. McNeece said that he left First National a year ago because a group of shareholders wanted to sell the bank, while he wanted to keep it independent. First National was sold to Alabama-based Regions Financial Corp. earlier this year.

Mr. McNeece said his challenge now is to grow the $2 billion-asset Michigan operation of the Columbus, Ohio-based company, which has 42 offices in the Detroit area. Mr. McNeece said profitability has been good at the Michigan unit, earning 1.75% on assets. The real hurdle will be to grow market share in Detroit and around Michigan while competing with such banking goliaths as First Chicago NBD Corp. and Comerica Inc. "They're 10 times the size of Huntington in Michigan," Mr. McNeece said of his competitors. "We're not going to try to attack them head-on, but we'll have to find a niche."

Fred Cummings, an analyst with McDonald & Company Securities in Cleveland, said Huntington, which has $20 billion in total assets, will have a tough time growing through acquisition in Michigan because of the high price tags on smaller institutions. But Mr. McNeece, who, prior to First National, worked for First Union Corp. and Hibernia Corp., believes there are opportunities for internal growth, too.

"I don't look at size, I look at profitability," said Mr. McNeece, who has been consulting since leaving First National.

Mr. McNeece described his banking experience as balanced between commercial and retail and noted that Huntington had wanted a generalist rather than a specialist to run its Michigan unit.

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