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FLINT, Mich., July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Citizens RepublicBancorp (Nasdaq: CRBC) announced that it has realigned its management teamto expand and grow client relationships and focus on revenue generation. Citizens' commercial, regional banking and wealth management lines ofbusiness are now served through six geographic regions, each managed by aregion president. The six regions are Northern Michigan, Flint Michigan,West Michigan, Southeast Michigan, Ohio and a combined region whichincludes Wisconsin, Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A new shared services group also has been developed to support thecompany's sales and service efforts. This new group encompasses severaldisciplines including: finance and treasury, accounting, legal, operationsand technology, credit reporting and support, and consumer and smallbusiness credit. "This new structure is designed to improve profitability and acceleraterevenue generation by expanding and growing client relationships, improvingteamwork and cross-sell opportunities and enhancing client support," saidWilliam R. Hartman, president and chief executive officer. "The sharedservices model should better support our markets with the goal of improvingclient satisfaction and retention. These enhancements realign managerialresponsibilities, but are not intended to change staffing levels. We arefortunate to have a strong group of leaders to help us become the best bankin the Midwest." As part of the realignment, each of the following members of theleadership team will continue as executive vice presidents of CitizensRepublic Bancorp and have been named to the officer positions listed belowfor Citizens Bank. Cathleen Nash, vice chair of regional banking, is responsible for theexecution of commercial banking, consumer banking, private banking,residential mortgage and business owner banking strategies for the sixregions. The presidents of each region report to her. Nash continues heroversight of marketing and product management and is responsible fordeveloping the company's consumer banking strategy. Clint Sampson, vice chair of commercial banking, oversees commercialreal estate, asset based lending and commercial products sales. As thechief commercial banker for Michigan and Ohio he works closely with theseregions to grow commercial banking relationships. He also is responsiblefor developing the commercial banking strategy for the corporation. John Schwab, vice chair of credit, will continue to develop thecorporation's credit strategies and policies while helping the companygenerate quality lending business. He will continue to work with the seniorcredit officers and regions to develop quality business and to focus onimproving overall credit quality given the economic challenges of theMidwest economy. Charles Christy, vice chair of finance and administration, oversees thenew shared services group which includes finance and treasury, accounting,legal, operations and technology, credit reporting and support, andconsumer and small business credit. Randall Peterson, region president of Wisconsin, Iowa and the UpperPeninsula of Michigan also will continue to serve as the chief commercialbanker for Wisconsin and Iowa. Peterson also is responsible for developingthe company's agricultural banking strategy. He reports jointly to Hartmanand Nash. The other five geographically managed regions listed above are headedby Jim Van Tiflin, president - Northern Michigan; Mark Fleshner, president- Flint Michigan; Pat Reardon, president - West Michigan; Tom Shafer,president - Southeast Michigan; and, Paul Fissel, president - Ohio. Executive Biographies - Cathleen Nash joined Citizens in July 2006 as executive vice president and head of consumer banking. Prior to Citizens, Nash was senior vice president, director of branch banking for SunTrust. In this role she was responsible for overseeing the sales and operations strategy of 1,700 branch locations. In her 13 years with the company, she managed Florida retail banking, which included private banking, business banking, branch banking and marketing. - Clinton Sampson joined Citizens in 2003 as executive vice president and regional chairman responsible for commercial banking relationships in Michigan. He is a veteran commercial banker who has held key international and domestic management positions with National Bank of Detroit (NBD) and its successor banks, First Chicago NBD and Bank One. He assumed the top leadership position in Bank One's greater Cleveland marketplace in September 1999 and for the entire Northeast Ohio region in November 2002. - John Schwab joined the company in 2002 as the chief credit officer. He served for more than 30 years in a variety of positions with National Bank of Detroit (NBD) and its successor banks, First Chicago NBD and Bank One. Prior to joining Citizens, Schwab was a senior credit officer for Bank One. Schwab began his banking career in 1969 as a lending officer with Citibank, N.A. He was group head of NBD's eastern group, marketing commercial products to Fortune 500 companies on the East Coast. In 1997, Schwab was appointed chief credit officer for First Chicago NBD's retail, small business and middle market lending activities. - Charles Christy joined Citizens in 2002 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to joining Citizens, Christy served in various capacities with Bank One for 12 years, including regional and divisional chief financial officer roles, treasurer of the retail line of business, and numerous mergers and acquisition activities. Prior to Bank One, Christy spent six years in health care consulting and five years in manufacturing in lead financial roles. - Randall Peterson joined the company in 2003 as president and chief executive officer of Citizens Bank in Wisconsin and F&M Bank-Iowa. Prior to joining Citizens, Peterson served in a variety of capacities with Associated Bank for 20 years as executive vice president and president of the Green Bay region. - James Van Tiflin rejoined Citizens in 2006 and served as regional president for Northern Michigan. Van Tiflin began his banking career in 1971 at Second National Bank in Saginaw. He retired from Citizens in 2003 as regional president and business banking manager for Citizens' mid-Michigan region and Citizens Bank in Wisconsin. He continued to remain involved with the company following his retirement serving on Citizens Bank's Tri-County Advisory Board of Directors in the Saginaw, Michigan, market. - Mark Fleshner has been with Citizens for more than 20 years and has served in a variety of leadership positions. From 2000 to 2002, he was regional market executive for the bank's Greater Lansing, Jackson and Sturgis, Michigan markets. From 1997 to 2000, he was president of Citizens Bank in greater Lansing, Michigan. From 1995 to 1997, he was executive vice president of commercial, consumer, and mortgage lending in Citizens Saginaw, Michigan market. Fleshner was an executive vice president and head of commercial banking for Citizens Bank-Illinois from 1991 to 1995. - Pat Reardon began his career in banking in 1985 as a client service representative. In 1986 he became part of a bank-wide executive trainee program. From 1987 through 1989 Reardon worked as a commercial credit analyst and in 1989 he was promoted to commercial relationship officer and vice president. In 1997 he was named commercial business manager and senior vice president. - Thomas Shafer joined Citizens in 1994 as senior vice president for the commercial banking division. Prior to joining Citizens, Shafer served for 14 years with Michigan National Bank. From 1981 to 1992, he held various positions in commercial banking for the bank's southeast region and in 1992 was named city president of the bank's Flint franchise. Shafter was appointed president of Southeast Michigan in 2003. - Paul Fissel joined Citizens in 2007 as president of the Ohio market and has extensive commercial banking experience in Ohio. He led commercial banking operations in the Cleveland region for Sky Bank since 2006. From 2002-2005, Fissel was executive vice president-head of commercial banking for Fifth Third Bank in Northeast Ohio and from 1996-2001, he was executive vice president at KeyCorp, based in Cleveland. Corporate Profile Citizens Republic Bancorp is a diversified financial services companyproviding a wide range of commercial, consumer, mortgage banking, trust andfinancial planning services to a broad client base. Citizens RepublicBancorp serves communities in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana asCitizens Bank and in Iowa as F&M Bank, with 241 offices and 267 ATMs.Citizens Republic Bancorp is the 2nd-largest bank holding companyheadquartered in Michigan with roots dating back to 1871. Citizens RepublicBancorp is the 42nd-largest bank holding company headquartered in theUnited States. More information about Citizens Republic Bancorp isavailable at http://www.citizensbanking.com. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050421/DETH014LOGO)
