HOUSTON — A team of Houston area bankers with seven decades of combined financial services experience has joined MidSouth Bank, Texas, a subsidiary of MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. (Amex: MSL), to lead the bank's expansion into the Houston market.
All four employees -- Jeffrey Vargo, Kay Moore, Moises Brito and Nancy Williams -- previously worked for Banco Popular in Houston. "We work well together, trust each other and all have a passion for the commercial lending side of banking," said Vargo. "So we combined our talents, formed a team and sought out a bank that was looking to build a strong commercial lending department in the Houston area," he continued. "MidSouth Bank's diverse commercial portfolio attracted our attention, but its growth over the past few years into an $800,000 million bank holding company and aggressive expansion plans for Houston clinched the deal for us."
The new MidSouth Bank Houston facility, scheduled to open in March, is located at 2930 W. Sam Houston Parkway, Suite 225, in the Kempwood Office Building.
Headquartered in Lafayette, La., MidSouth Bancorp expanded into Texas in late 2004 with its acquisition of Beaumont-based Lamar Bank. The Texas subsidiary, which operates as MidSouth Bank, Texas, has six full-service locations in the southeast region of the state, including Beaumont, Vidor, College Station and Conroe. The bank has three offices in Jefferson County and operates single offices in Orange, Brazos, and Montgomery counties. It has a new full-service Conroe facility under construction at 2101 North Loop, 336 West (corner of Loop 336 and Longmire Road).
"Recruiting a talented group of bankers was a critical component of our plan to extend our Texas franchise, which is already well-established in the southeast region of the state, into Houston's vibrant metro area," said Ron Reed, President of MidSouth Bank, Texas. "It's not often that you have an opportunity to recruit that kind of talent in a single hire," Reed added.
"Jeff and his team will build a strong banking presence in northwest Houston and eventually expand the franchise throughout Houston, which works well with our location under construction in Conroe and our plans to move into the Woodlands," said C.R. "Rusty" Cloutier, President and Chief Executive Officer of MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. "They understand the Houston market and the dynamics of its economy because they are committed to playing a role in its growth."
Vargo noted that the bank's primary challenge will be getting its name and message out in the Houston market, which he said will be an aggressive campaign. "People don't know who we are, so we're going to have to be innovative and creative in our lending solutions," he said, emphasizing that every company in the Houston market will be a potential customer and client. "To win these companies over to MidSouth, we will deliver personalized service, quick and fair lending decisions, competitive rates and a unique depository strategy. MidSouth Bank may be unknown to many in the Houston area at this time, but we plan to work hard to introduce ourselves and differentiate ourselves from other banks."
Vargo, who spent the past decade in commercial lending in Houston, has 20 years of banking and financial services experience, most recently serving as Texas business banking manager at Banco Popular. He also worked for Bank One and SouthTrust Bank and has a bachelor's degree in business management and economics along with a bachelor's degree in communications. In his new role with MidSouth Bank, he is serving as Senior Vice President in charge of commercial lending for the entire Houston market.
Moore has 24 years of banking experience and most recently was a commercial relationship officer/business development officer. She has been named Vice President of commercial lending and treasury management.
Brito, a native of the Dominican Republic who is bilingual in English and Spanish, has an accounting MBA and bachelor's degree in finance. He previously worked as a commercial relationship officer and commercial credit analyst and before that as a credit analyst for Reliant Energy. He has been named Assistant Vice President/commercial loan officer at MidSouth Bank.
Williams, who has 24 years of experience in mortgage, consumer and commercial lending processes -- including SBA loans -- previously worked as closing administrator-business loans. In MidSouth Bank's Houston market, she is the commercial lending assistant.
MidSouth Bancorp's common stock is traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol MSL. The bank holding company has 29 locations in Louisiana and Texas and more than 120 ATMs.
