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Bear State’s Chris Wewers Moves to Southern Bancorp

1 min read

Perhaps you heard that a top executive at Little Rock’s Bear State Bank has migrated to a new job: chief financial officer at Southern Bancorp Inc.

It’s a great blend of community banking and margin with a mission, Chris Wewers said of his new gig.

The job at the $1.1 billion-asset rural development lender marks a return to familiar territory for Wewers. His banking career includes more than 15 years in Arkadelphia, home to Southern Bancorp Bank.

Wewers held the post of CFO at Arkadelphia’s Summit Bank in 2011 when he left to join First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas Inc. of Harrison, Bear State’s predecessor parent company.

Wewers held the posts of executive vice president and chief operating officer at Bear State Bank when he left for Southern Bancorp. He also served as CEO of Bear State for about 14 months.

Wewers will split time between Southern Bancorp’s executive offices in Little Rock and Arkadelphia. He fills the post left vacant by the exodus of Robert Cern in February 2014.

Who filled the role of interim CFO until the hiring of Wewers?

Dan Koehler, founder of Koehler Software Inc. and a former Southern Bancorp board member. Koehler served as CFO of Little Rock’s Union National Bank 14 years.

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