Simmons Bank promotes new CEO as longtime leader retires

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Update: This article includes comments from an interview with George Makris, Jr. and Jay Brogdon.

Simmons First National Corp. announced that a new chief executive will take the reins in the bank's third CEO shuffle in as many years.

The Pine Bluff, Arkansas-based bank said Monday that George Makris Jr., currently the chairman and CEO of the company and its banking subsidiary, will retire at the end of the year. Simmons President Jay Brogdon, 44, will become CEO and join the board of directors, effective Jan. 1.

Simmons' leadership transition didn't come as a huge surprise, said Piper Sandler analyst Stephen Scouten in an analyst note. Scouten wrote that Brogdon's promotion "really was more a question of when, not if."

The bank had been planning the transition since it hired Brogdon in 2021, and has built out the management team around him in the last few years, Makris told American Banker in an interview. Brogdon was appointed president in 2023, and began overseeing all the revenue sides of the business.

Makris had stepped back into the CEO role at Simmons, a position he held for eight years prior, at the start of 2025. He had taken a two-year hiatus from wearing the chief executive hat, during which he still served as executive chairman.

During his tenure, Makris ushered the $27 billion-asset bank through a massive growth spurt, as Simmons acquired 14 banks in under a decade.

"Under his leadership, Simmons grew from a smaller Arkansas-based bank to a regional powerhouse," Scouten said in his Monday note.

The company now operates more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

Makris said in a prepared statement Monday that he looks forward to "seeing continued progress toward building shareholder value through the achievement of our ambitious strategic objectives."

Brogdon said in an interview that the bank's top priority is taking advantage of its recent expansions by focusing on organic growth.

"We are blessed to have a size and a scale to be able to serve a very diverse, wide-ranging customer base in a very attractive set of markets," Brogdon said. "And so we believe our opportunity to grow market share, to grow customers and to deepen our presence in the markets that we've acquired into historically is a great opportunity."

He added the bank is also working on its so-called Better Bank initiative, which it launched a few years ago, focused on improving efficiency, speed and client service.

As mergers and acquisition activity picks up in the banking world, so do talent acquisition opportunities for other banks, Brogdon said. While Simmons isn't looking to participate in M&A at this time, the incoming CEO said other banks' deals can drive his bank's chances to hire new people.

The bank's net interest margin surpassed 3% in the second quarter, ahead of its expectations for the profitability metric. Margins at banks have been muted in recent years as deposit costs outpaced the yields on investments and loans.

Loan growth, which has also been tepid in the sector for several years, has also put pressure on balance sheet growth. Simmons' total assets took a slight dip from last year's second quarter.

"While overall balance sheet growth was muted, our loan pipeline remains strong," said Makris in a prepared statement when the company announced earnings.

He added, though, that while "certain administration policies have become clearer, tariff volatility looms large and is a key to future interest rate moves and economic conditions."

Due to the economic uncertainty, the bank is focused on organic growth within its existing footprint, Makris said.

Simmons announced last month that during the second quarter, it had logged diluted earnings per share of $0.43, above the consensus analyst estimate.

The bank's stock was trading at about $19.00 per share on Monday afternoon. Simmons' stock price trajectory, which is down 12.5% year to date, has underperformed compared with the 3.2% fall of the KBW Regional Banking Index.

The company's next CEO, Brogdon, joined Simmons four years ago as chief financial officer after more than a decade as a managing director in the investment banking division of Stephens.

Simmons also announced that Marty Casteel, a former chairman, president and CEO, and current director, will become chairman of Simmons and its banking subsidiary at the start of 2026.

Makris added that Simmons worked proactively to establish a deep succession plan instead of using a transaction to solve for leadership.

"I just want to emphasize how proud I am with our board's thoughtful consideration on our succession plan," Makris said. "There are a lot of banks who have to go the M&A route, or choose to go the M&A route, because they have not done what our board has done."