First Southern Bank in Boca Raton, Fla. is realigning its organization to make it easier to expand.
On Wednesday, the $858 million-asset subsidiary of First Southern Bancorp Inc. announced plans to restructure into two regions. One would manage its business in Palm Beach and Broward counties, and the other would manage operations in St. Johns County and an anticipated expansion into neighboring Duval County.
Don Putnam, the company’s chief lending officer, was named market president for the Palm Beach/Broward region and will be interim market president for the St. Johns/Duval operations as the company seeks a permanent executive for that role.
The company also announced that Franklin G. Burnside, the bank’s president, will retire at yearend. A successor was not named, but the company said in its press release that a new bank president could be promoted from within, an outside recruit or someone added through an acquisition.
In February, First Southern Bancorp raised $400 million to buy failed banks, and J. Herbert Boydstun, the former chief executive of Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans, took the helm.
