SOUTHEAST
First Charter Corp. of Charlotte said Lawrence M. Kimbrough would step down as its president and chief executive officer June 30.
Mr. Kimbrough will be given the title of president emeritus. Until he retires at yearend he will help with the transition to his successor, Robert E. James Jr.
Mr. James, who will assume his new position July 1, will remain the president and CEO of First Charter's $4.4 billion-asset First Charter Bank. He has held those two jobs since April of last year.
Mr. Kimbrough joined First Charter Bank in 1984 as the head of its trust department and was named the president and CEO two years later. Mr. James joined the bank in 1999.
First Charter Bank has hired Cecil O. Smith Jr. as its chief information officer and promoted Rick Manley to chief banking officer.
Both have also been named group executive vice presidents.
Mr. Smith was the chief information officer of Duke Energy Corp., a Charlotte utility company, where he had worked since 1995.
Before that he had worked for 20 years at the old Wachovia Bank, most recently as the head of information services for Wachovia Operational Services Corp. (First Union Corp. bought Wachovia in 2001 and took its name.)
Mr. Manley was an executive vice president and the community banking director at First Charter, which he joined in 1999. Before that he had worked for 25 years in various management jobs with Centura Bank (now RBC Centura Bank), Barnett Bank (now Bank of America), and Regions Bank.
First Charter Bank also hired Stephen J. Antal as its general counsel, a new position.
Mr. Antal, who was also named a senior vice president, was a member of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC, a Winston-Salem law firm, where he focused on capital markets matters.
Before that he had worked for six years as the assistant general counsel and a senior vice president at First Union. Before that he had been the senior counsel and the managing attorney for 11 years at First Fidelity Bancorp. in Newark, N.J., which First Union bought in 1996.
SOUTHWESTGuaranty Bank and Trust Co., a Denver unit of Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. of Fort Collins, Colo., has hired the president of KeyBank's Colorado district to head up its newly created women's banking division.
Debbie Jessup, a 22-year KeyBank veteran, had led its Colorado operations since 2003.
The $1.6 billion-asset Guaranty said she would spend the next few months staffing the new division, which will operate as a business unit with a name and location to be chosen later.
Ms. Jessup will work with LaRae Orullian, Guaranty Bank's vice chairwoman, who was the founding president and chief executive officer of Women's Bank of Denver from 1977 until its sale to Equitable Bankshares in 1995. "Many banks talk about truly catering to women, but Guaranty will walk the talk," Ms. Orullian said.
WESTWashington Federal Inc. of Seattle has named Thomas J. Kelley to its board.
Mr. Kelley teaches auditing, financial and managerial accounting, and business policy at Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics.
Earlier he had been a partner at Arthur Andersen & Co. From 1984 to 1997 he started, developed, and was the partner in charge of its financial markets industry practice in San Diego and Orange County, Calif. He also supervised all services rendered to Resolution Trust Corp. in the western United States.
From 1997 to 2002 he was the managing partner of Andersen's audit and business advisory practice in countries of the former Soviet Union.
Bridge Capital Holdings of Santa Clara, Calif., has hired Steven D. Schreier as the manager of its investment services group and Edward Lambert as a senior vice president of business development at its $402 million-asset Bridge Bank.Mr. Schreier was also named a senior vice president. He was the director of Silicon Valley Bank's securities and asset management businesses. His financial services career began in 1990 at Shearson Lehman Brothers, a predecessor of Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney.
Mr. Lambert was a senior vice president in the technology and life sciences division at Comerica Bank, where he had worked for seven years.
