2020 BKD Milestones in Banking Awards

Sandra Carrier started her banking career as a bookkeeper at First National Bank of Marianna in February of 1970. In 1980, she moved to Benton and worked for Union Bank of Benton as a bookkeeper/ teller. Then in 1981, she came back to First National Bank of Marianna as a bookkeeper and later became a teller/branch manager. In 2009, First National Bank of Marianna became Farmers and Merchants Bank where Sandra continues to work as a teller. She says being a teller is her first love, well, other than her seven-year-old grandson, Colt Thomas with whom she loves to spend her time. Sandra’s son, Lance, is also in banking and lives in Jonesboro.

Bill Puddephatt started his career in banking in the 1970’s and has never stopped running since. He has worked for several major banks throughout his career in many different roles. Most recently, he was executive vice president for BankOZK, president of the Little Rock market for the First National Bank and six years ago, he became Little Rock market president for First Service Bank. Bill graduated from Hendrix College majoring in Economics and Business Administration and has a diploma with high honors in real estate finance with Ohio State University. Bill has been the chairman of several volunteering committees over the years, such as Arkansas Children's Hospital, Boy Scouts of America, and Christ Lutheran Church.

In 1970, Hugh Allen Quimby went to work for First State Bank of Warren as an officer trainee, worked as a bookkeeper, teller, note teller, branch manager, loan secretary, and secretary to the president. In 1974, Quimby joined Citizens National Bank in Jacksonville as vice president in charge of bank operations and a loan officer. While there, he was in charge of automating the bank and putting all applications on computer. In 1976, he returned to the First State Bank of Warren as vice president in charge of marketing, advertising, public relations and personnel. In 1977, he was placed in charge of operations and made loans. A year later, Quimby was promoted to senior vice president. In 1981, he was promoted to executive vice president in charge of operations and loan officer and at present, is the executive vice president, personnel officer, trust officer, and in charge of information technology.

Beverly Williams began her banking career as a teller at the First National Bank & Trust Company (which later became Arvest Bank) in Rogers, AR, in July 1970. From 1972 to 1984, she worked in several roles within the loan department: loan teller, loan assistant/processor, and supervisor. Since 1985, Beverly has worked in the Bank Portfolio Management Department and currently serves as a hedging trader.

As Simmons Bank’s chief business development officer, Freddie Black drives all aspects of Simmons’ business development strategy, including marketing, product development, and sales analytics functions. Freddie previously served as Simmons’ regional chairman for Arkansas and southeast Missouri, overseeing all banking within his region. Freddie’s Simmons career began in 1984 when Simmons completed its acquisition of First State Bank and Trust in Lake Village, Arkansas. It was evident even then that Freddie believed in “going the duration.” Freddie’s advice to aspiring bankers is, “Work hard and treat people with respect” – values he applies even beyond the workplace. He is a former board member for the University of Arkansas Foundation, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and The Rockefeller Foundation. He currently serves on the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute board and was named the governor-appointed chairperson for the Arkansas Beverage Control Commission in 2018. Freddie holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Arkansas and graduated from Louisiana State University’s School of Banking in 1983. A committed family man, Freddie spends his free time with his wife, children and grandchildren, and working on his family farm in Lake Village, Arkansas.

In 1980, Dr. Bob L. Burns began his banking career as a compliance officer at Farmers Bank & Trust. In 1983, he was elected president and CEO and has guided the bank from a $30 million institution in Magnolia, Arkansas, to over $1.6 billion in total assets with over 22 locations in 14 communities throughout southwest Arkansas and east Texas. Burns, a retired colonel with the army, has a meritorious record of military service and has assumed many active roles in community and statewide organizations. His hobbies include duck, deer and pheasant hunting along with fly-fishing. He also has a special skill set as an aircraft pilot. Thank you, Bob L. Burns for your many years of service to our country, community and to Farmers Bank & Trust!

Gharon Camp started at Simmons Bank on August 25, 1980. Over the last 40 years, her experience has spanned from mobile home insurance and student loans to Community Reinvestment Act and Home Mortgage Disclosure Actrelated services, along with processing. Gharon credits her career success to hard work and a commitment to do the best she can each day, qualities that also come through in her hobbies, which include reading and church involvement.

Jim Cargill is President & CEO of Arvest Bank in Little Rock. Cargill is a fourthgeneration banker; he joined Arvest in 1985, and he has been located in central Arkansas since 1999. Throughout Jim’s career, he has helped develop Arvest’s marketing initiatives, and worked to further Arvest’s ability to identify products and services that are of the greatest benefit to customers. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he majored in finance and banking. He also is a graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate School of Commercial Lending and of the Professional Masters of Banking Program at the Graduate School of Banking, Louisiana State University.

Phyllis Coleman began her banking career in 1980, at First National Bank in Russellville, Arkansas (later became Regions Bank). She was in the bookkeeping department and took a teller position. She moved back to Jonesboro in 1998 and worked as a teller and in customer service (opening new accounts) for Regions. She then started working for Integrity First Bank in 2017 as a teller, which later became Farmers and Merchants Bank. Phyllis says her favorite job in banking is teller work. She added, “I love helping customers and meeting different people.” Phyllis has been married to her husband Jimmy for 48 years. They have two sons and seven grandkids. She attends North Main Baptist Church and is over the children’s department. The Arkansas Banker n Fall 2020 39

Candace Franks is the 21st Commissioner of the Arkansas State Bank Department and began serving in that role in 2007. She is the first female and the first professional bank regulator appointed to her position. She has served the Bank Department since 1980 as legal counsel, deputy commissioner, and commissioner.

Deb Fuller is a vice president and branch administrator for Arvest Bank Fort Smith and the eastern Oklahoma region that supports branches in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. She has been with Arvest Bank for two years. Previously, Deb worked for Bear State Bank as the regional retail manager. Deb has 40 years of banking experience working in various capacities. She attended Waldron High School, the University of Central Arkansas, and Rich Mountain College. Deb attends Boles FreeWill Baptist Church. She has one son, Caden, who is currently a junior at Waldron High School.

On July 28, 1980, Ramona Garganeous began her banking career in the check payment department at Simmons Bank. Her passion for her work led her to earn three banking diplomas from the American Institute of Banking, now part of the American Bankers Association. Ramona credits her long career to being part of a bank that feels like a family. In addition to her enjoyment for work, Ramona also finds meaning in giving back to her community during her free time. She volunteers for organizations like the Great American Cleanup, the Salvation Army, and Neighbor to Neighbor. Thank you, Ramona, for your many years of wonderful service!

A 1978 graduate of Bentonville High School, Sheri Habermehl began working after graduating high school at the Bank of Bentonville until October 2001. She worked in accounting and deposit services jobs. For five years, she worked as a bookkeeping clerk. She also worked in various other jobs as well – a teller, proof operator, documentation clerk, and loan processor. She eventually became a mortgage loan assistant at the main bank and Bella Vista Town Center branch. She was a consumer/commercial loan assistant and then for two years was the loan assistant supervisor. For six years, Sheri worked as the loan operations officer/AVP. From October 2001 until April 2006, she was the imaging manager and then in 2006 until present, she became the integrated account services supervisor for exceptions such as return and adjustments. Congratulations, Sheri, on over 40 years of great work!

Terry Hendrix’s 40 years of service in the banking industry has been at the same location in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The bank’s name has changed from McIlroy Bank & Trust to Arvest Bank. He started working at the bank the summer of 1980, before his senior year in high school. After graduating from Fayetteville High School, Terry worked full time at the bank and took classes at the University of Arkansas, graduating in 1989 with a degree in finance and real estate. In 1990, he added vice president/security officer to his vault manager duties. Over the next 15 years, Terry excelled in the areas of vault management and security and shared his knowledge as an instructor of ABA security classes. For the last 20 years, he has been in a bank support role of marketing and community involvement. Terry has a unique skillset and passion and works as a representative of Arvest and participates in community festivals and parades, providing floats to encourage employee interaction and involvement in the communities of the three states that Arvest represents.

Mark Hiryak started at Farmers and Merchants Bank in November 1979, as a computer operator in the Stuttgart office. In January 1991, he was promoted to data processing officer. In 1998, he became vice president of the IT department and in 2011, was promoted to senior VP of information technolgy. In 2017, Mark took on a new role as the senior core processing engineer. Mark enjoys taking trips with his wife Lisa, and enjoys being with his two daughters.

In December of 1980, Luann Howard began her banking career as a teller at Worthen Bank. She was soon promoted to senior teller then customer service, which included sales, loans, and loan processing. Later, she was moved to assistant manager and then became manager. She was there through three name changes — NationsBank, Boatman’s, and now Bank of America. She serves as relationship manager and business owner specialist at the Geyer Springs Financial Center. Luann credits her success in banking to the great managers and wonderful customers she has served over the years. Luann loves traveling with her husband Gary, and loves her dogs, Alex and Sophie.

Regina Lake has not only been in banking for 40 years, she’s been with Merchants and Planters Bank for 40 plus years! She started when she was a young mother, helping to clean the bank after hours for additional income. She soon realized that she had found a place that she loved and set out to make a career there. She’s seen many changes, helped thousands of customers, and – as the longest tenured employee – is the matriarch of the M&P family.

Carolyn McGraw began her career at Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1980 as a customer service check filer. She advanced her career as trust secretary in 1989. She was promoted to assistant vice president/trust officer in 2004. She was later promoted to vice president in 2009, and in January 2011, she became senior vice president/trust officer. Carolyn is a 2013 graduate of the School of Banking at the Cox School of Business at SMU in Dallas. She enjoys spending time with her husband Martin, her two daughters, and their families which includes three grandchildren.

Bill Milum has served the bank department and the banking industry for over 40 years. He has witnessed first-hand the evolution of the industry from both the bank and the regulatory perspective.

Janet Moore joined Stone Bank as Chief Operations Officer in January of 2020. Prior to that, she was chief operations officer and executive vice president with Citizens Bank in Batesville. Moore has also held positions with Iberiabank and Pulaski Bank in Little Rock. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and the Southwest Graduate School of Banking. Congratulations for your 40 years of service!

Cynthia Nixon began her banking career at the Arkansas State Bank Department in 1978 and has served and supervised the administrative support area for over 40 years. Cynthia has witnessed many changes in the Arkansas banking industry during her tenure and has been such an asset to the bank department. The Arkansas Banker n Fall 2020 41

DiAnna Preston started working at First National Bank of Fayetteville as a check printer in January 1980. She was then promoted to a teller position and later became a customer service bookkeeper. It wasn’t long before DiAnna was promoted to a wire transfer position and finally to a loan assistant position. She started working for the Bank of Fayetteville on March 31, 2003, as a loan assistant and she continues to work in that position. She has gone above and beyond for her customers over the years, whether that be hand typing cashier checks for a customer so they can pay their employees, or getting a loan expedited for a customer so that they could close on the correct closing day. DiAnna also wrote the first loan assistance manual for the Bank of Fayetteville. She says, “I love my job and the favorite part of it is when our organization is able to finance a loan, close on it, and the customer is happy.”

In 1973, Joyce Radcliff began her banking career as a teller/bookkeeper at Planters & Stockmen Bank in Pocahontas, Arkansas. Joyce moved to the newly formed IT department when the bank installed its first in-house computer system in 1978. She became the IT officer and ran the data center for the bank through the 1990’s, surviving several name changes as Planters & Stockmen Bank acquired other banks in northeast Arkansas and started First Community Bank in Jonesboro in the late 1990’s. Joyce left what eventually became Iberia Bank in 2007 and began her career with RiverBank. Joyce has served as COO of RiverBank for 10 years and on the board of directors of RiverBank for seven years. Joyce credits her success in banking to having learned a good work ethic while growing up on a farm and to the opportunities provided her as a result of that hard work. She never watched a clock, just worked until a job was done to the best of her ability. Joyce’s hobbies include traveling and spending time with her two daughters and her five grandchildren. Thank you, Joyce Radcliff, for 40-plus years of banking and for the dedication and experience you have brought to RiverBank.

Angela Robertson began her banking career as a proof operator on September 23, 1978, at the First National Bank of Phillips County in Helena, Arkansas. Angela was hired by Eagle Bank on November 1, 1999, as a loan assistant, and was later promoted to AVP/Consumer Lending, then to her current position of VP/manager of Credit Administration. Angela worked in the Eagle Bank Little Rock office until moving to the Heber Springs loan operations office on May 1, 2012. Angela will celebrate her 42nd year in banking this year, with 21 years of her career at Eagle Bank and Trust.

Tommie Shackelford began his banking career on September 1, 1973, in Marvell, Arkansas, at the Bank of Marvell. Back then, there was no such thing as direct deposit, electronic posting, or various interest rates from bank to bank. Tommie started out on the teller line, then operated a proof machine. The bank was bought out by Helena National Bank in 1991. Soon after that, he was offered the opportunity to come to his present position in accounting. In 2019, Helena National Bank rebranded itself and became Partners Bank where Tommie serves as the chief accounting officer. He says that he has learned a lot from a few mentors who have given him many pleasant experiences and memories.

Stanhope Wilkinson has been the chief executive officer at Farmers Bank since 1994, but his employment at the bank dates back to his boyhood. Stanhope started in the maintenance department, worked into a teller position, then was promoted to bookkeeper while working during the summers in high school. Through the years he has worked his way up the corporate ladder, serving as vice president, president and now CEO. He uses his vast experience to lead business development, marketing, public relations and collections for Farmers Bank. Stanhope graduated from Greenwood High School in 1976, and studied at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville where he attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1980. Two days after graduation his full time employment began at Farmers Bank. He went on to sharpen his banking skills at the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1984.

Nancy Zink began her banking career in 1979 at what is now Regions Bank. There, she managed a customer service staff of ten for Little Rock area, and held roles of database marketing analyst and treasury management advisor. Nancy earned her Certified Treasury Professional Designation in 1999 and continues to hold the designation. As one of the first associates in the central Arkansas area, Nancy has made immeasurable contributions to the success of Arvest Bank through her roles in treasury management and business development. Nancy has a solid reputation for building long-term trust-based relationships with clients and has been recognized multiple times as a top sales performer and Arvest Sales and Service Award Winner.

Partners Bank, formerly Helena National Bank, was chartered in Helena, Arkansas, on April 1, 1940, by Helena Bancshares, Inc. In 2019, Partners became a state-chartered bank and completely rebranded itself. Partners’ mission is to utilize their resources to build steadfast partnerships that support and enrich the lives and communities they serve and to create value for those around themselves at every opportunity. Privately owned, this community bank currently has six branch locations in Helena-West Helena, Marvell, Wynne, and Marion. Partners expects to go beyond its current east Arkansas footprint, bringing in new markets including central and northwest Arkansas, and ultimately northeast Arkansas, and parts of Tennessee and Mississippi. Partners believes in giving back! “Partners for a Cause” allows employees the opportunity to donate to local non-profits and charities in exchange for a jean day at work each month. Some recipients of the initiative include St. Judes Hospital, Arkansas Autism Awareness, Make-A-Wish, Alzheimers Arkansas, Second Chance Domestic Abuse Shelter, and Center the Lifelong Learning, PCCUA Workshop in the Arts, and a UMC Soup Kitchen. Partners also hosts “Mix and Mingles” at various businesses or community points of interest. Partners supports state-wide and local events including the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Alzheimers Arkansas’ Champion of the Year in Little Rock, Make-A-Wish efforts in Marion and Jonesboro, and many school fundraisers and sports programs, as well as other youth, community, and mission based projects. They truly strive to demonstrate their vision: Creating Opportunities Through Personal Connections. Partners Bank has a rich history of service and a strong dedication to their bank family, their customers and to their shareholders.