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Machen Succeeds McFatridge as CEO of Bear State Financial

2 min read

Mark McFatridge has resigned as CEO of Bear State Financial, and the board of directors of the publicly traded bank holding company announced Wednesday that Matt Machen will be his replacement.

Machen, 35, has been president of the Little Rock company’s bank subsidiary, Bear State Bank.

McFatridge, who joined Bear State Bank when the Missouri bank he headed was acquired in the fall of 2015, informed the board of his resignation on Saturday, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

Machen joined Bear State — then First Federal Bank — in 2011, following its recapitalization by Bear State Financial Holdings. The announcement said Machen led the bank’s turnaround in northwest Arkansas before relocating to Little Rock, first as chief financial officer. He was promoted to bank president in April 2016.

“Matt combines strong financial services experience and knowledge of the depth of our management team with a vision for the Company’s future that will be a critical part of our growth and success moving forward,” Chairman Rick Massey said in the release. “Matt joined our team more than five years ago and has proven to be both a dynamic leader and accomplished at strategy execution. Our board has full confidence in Matt to handle his new responsibilities and feel we are fortunate as a Company to have an executive of his caliber at Bear State.”

A bio of Machen included in the release says he is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking and has 14 years of banking experience. He has a leadership certificate from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and completed the executive program in financial leadership from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He is a member of the Dean’s Alumni Advisory Council for the Walton College at the UA.

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