Mid-State Bank in Arroyo Grande, Calif., has hired James W. Lokey as president and chief executive officer.
He succeeded Carrol Pruett, who remains chairman of the $1.4 billion-asset bank and president and CEO of the parent Mid-State Bancshares.
Mr. Lokey was briefly president and CEO of $5.2 billion-asset Downey Savings in Newport Beach, Calif. He had joined the thrift in early 1997, when it was planning to focus on commercial lending; he left in October 1998, after that strategy was abandoned.
Earlier he worked for First Interstate Bank for 23 years and then for Wells Fargo Bank, which bought it in 1996.
MIDWEST
Cole Taylor Bank in Chicago has promoted Gregory B. Whipple to head of its correspondent banking group.He will report to Thomas C. Aronson, senior vice president and group head of the business banking division.
Mr. Whipple, who was also promoted to senior vice president, joined the bank last year as a vice president in the correspondent banking group. Earlier he was president of Irving Bank in Chicago, which Banco Popular of Puerto Rico bought last March.
Cole Taylor Bank has $2 billion of assets.
Provident Bank in Cincinnati has hired Laura S. Petrie as a senior vice president in its private bank.Ms. Petrie will be in charge of personal trust and estate administration as well as trust taxation.
She was a partner specializing in estate planning and probate administration at the Keating, Muething & Klekamp law firm in Cincinnati.
Provident Bank, a subsidiary of Provident Financial Group Inc., has $8.5 billion of assets.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC
Lakeland Bancorp in Oak Ridge, N.J., has named Robert A. Vandenbergh executive vice president in charge of lending at its three subsidiaries: Metropolitan State Bank in Montville, National Bank of Sussex County in Branchville, and Lakeland Bank in Oak Ridge.Mr. Vandenberg is also president of National Bank of Sussex County, which he joined in 1991. Earlier he worked at Midlantic Bank of Edison, N.J., for nine years; PNC Bank Corp. of Pittsburgh bought Midlantic in 1995.
Atlantic Bank of New York has promoted general counsel and corporate secretary, James S. Maxwell from senior vice president to executive vice president.Mr. Maxwell is in charge of all legal matters at the $1.8 billion-asset bank, including its compliance department.
He joined Atlantic in 1986. Earlier he worked at the Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley law firm in Miami, where he specialized in commercial litigation in banking and construction.
WEST
Bank of the Sierra in Porterville, Calif., has promoted Thomas McDermott to vice president in its real estate loan center.Mr. McDermott has been a secondary marketing officer in the bank's Porterville office since 1996. He joined the bank in 1993 and previously worked in its real estate loan center in Visalia, Calif.
Bank of the Sierra has $440 million of assets.
Neighborhood National Bank in San Diego has hired Tom Ferrara as executive vice president and chief credit officer, a newly created post at the $27.4 million-asset bank.Mr. Ferrara held the same titles at $251 million-asset Valle de Oro Bank in Spring Valley, Calif., his employer for 13 years. Community First Bankshares of Fargo, N.D., bought Valle de Oro in October
Earlier he was a vice president at Bank of America in San Diego. He has 35 years of banking experience.
