First Clover Leaf in Ill. Hires CEO

First Clover Leaf Financial (FCLF) in Edwardsville, Ill., has hired a new chief executive for its bank.

David Kuhl will become president and CEO of the $597 million-asset bank on Oct. 7, First Clover Leaf announced Wednesday. The current CEO, Dennis Terry, will stay on as director of media relations and board projects.

Kuhl was chief executive of Freestar Bank in Pontiac, Ill., which was sold to First Financial of Indiana for $47 million in 2011. Since the sale, he has served as a director of NorStates Bank in Waukegan, Ill., and an advisor to the Chicago Corp., an investment bank. He was also chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and of the Illinois Bankers Association from 2000 through 2010.

"We are confident that [Kuhl's] diverse and broad experience in the banking industry will continue to build upon the success we have experienced over the last several years," says Gerry Schuetzenhofer, the chairman of First Clover Leaf Bank.

Terry, 65, has been president and CEO of First Clover Leaf since 2006, when it was formed as part of an M&A transaction. He had been president and CEO of Clover Leaf Bank from 2000 through 2006.

First Clover Leaf has five branches in Illinois.