Conway, Arkansas-based Home BancShares Inc. (NYSE: HOMB) and its wholly owned subsidiary Centennial Bank announced shifts in its management team.
Chief Operating Officer Stephen Tipton will take on the role of CEO of Centennial Bank while Kevin Hester will add to his chief lending officer duties to become president of Home BancShares and president of Centennial Bank. Hester has served as the senior lender since the company began 25 years ago while Tipton has been chief operating officer for the past nine years.
John Allison will remain as executive chairman and CEO of Home BancShares and Tracy French will remain as chairman of Centennial Bank – the latter previously served as president and CEO.
The company operates 76 branches in Arkansas, 78 branches in Florida, 58 branches in Texas, five branches in Alabama and one branch in New York City.
“Home BancShares and Centennial Bank are blessed with a deep bench in terms of talent and experience of the management team,” said Allison. “I view this shift as an opportunity to effectively utilize the depth of our management team in a way that sets us up for the future. This group spans four decades and embodies over 130 years of banking experience and has worked together for many years and will continue to work together each day to ensure that Centennial Bank remains one of the best banks in America.”