Foothills in Ga. Taps Ex-Verity Bank Chief as Interim CEO

Foothills Community Bank in Dawsonville, Ga., has named John Lewis interim chief executive.

Lewis replaces Charles Buckner, who resigned from the $77.2 million-asset bank last week. Buckner had been CEO of Foothills since 2007. Lewis was previously president of Verity Bank in Winder, Ga., which was later acquired by the $3.5 billion-asset Community & Southern Bank.

Foothills remains subject to an October 2012 consent order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, requiring it to hire new management, improve capital levels, reduce its holdings of classified loans and be subjected to additional restrictions. The consent order was issued when institution was known as First Citizens Bank of Georgia.

Foothills is "in the process" of making changes to have the enforcement order terminated, and of making the bank "clean and profitable, moving forward," Lewis said in an interview with American Banker.

Lewis' experience with other community banks in Georgia made him a good fit for Foothills' plan to recapitalize, Chairman Mike Berg said in an interview with Dawson News. Lewis was a founder of Mountain State Bank in Dawsonville, which was sold to SunTrust Banks in 2008 as part of its deal for GB&T Bancshares.

"[Lewis] is part of the Foothills recapitalization plan," Berg said.