Joe Clay Young IV was recently promoted from first vice president to senior vice president at Merrill Lynch in Jonesboro.
Tina Adams has filled a new position at Arvest Bank in Little Rock: community development mortgage lender. Adams, a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, has seven years of experience in the financial services industry.
Magan Gray has been promoted to associate mortgage lender at the Arvest branch at 440 W. Markham St. in Little Rock. She was previously a mortgage sales assistant.
Ethan Bly has been promoted from senior teller to mortgage loan officer at the Arvest branch at 2590 Donaghey Ave. in Conway.
Brenda Eldridge has been hired as chief financial officer at Partners Bank of Helena, the new name of the bank previously known as Helena National Bank.
A native of Stuttgart, Eldridge is a CPA with 22 years of experience in the banking industry. She will work in the Marion branch.
Dana Cole Pittman has been hired as vice president and business development officer. She works in the main branch in Helena.
Jerrod Sandefur has been promoted to assistant vice president and commercial loan officer at Citizens Bank of Batesville.
Sandefur joined Citizens Bank in 2016 as a commercial loan officer.
Lile Choate has been named vice president and trust administrator for Simmons Bank’s Little Rock trust division.
A licensed attorney in Arkansas and Georgia, Choate has more than 20 years of experience in estate planning, tax and probate.
Brent W. Black has been hired as chief financial officer and chief operations officer of Malvern National Bank.
A certified public accountant, Black has worked in public accounting and for several large financial institutions, including Southern Bancorp and Summit Bank.
He was a 2012 Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 honoree and a 2009 finalist for Arkansas Business CFO of the Year.
From the main bank in downtown Malvern, he will oversee 13 branch locations.
Jason Fields has joined United Federal Credit Union as a new mortgage adviser serving the Washington County area.
With more than 19 years of financial services experience, Fields was most recently a mortgage loan originator for Centennial Bank in Fayetteville.
Frances Austin, Julie Mathews, Cameron Reesor, Brittany Hudgens and Miguel Lopez are staffing the branch office that First Community Bank of Batesville recently opened at 8201 Ranch Blvd. in west Little Rock.
Austin works in new accounts, Mathews and Reesor in secondary mortgage lending and Hudgens in insurance. Lopez is the branch’s Hispanic liaison officer.
Keith Jones has joined First National Bankers Bank as senior vice president and correspondent lending officer in the Arkansas region.
Jones, who’ll be based in Little Rock, has 35 years of banking experience, most recently as senior vice president and commercial lending officer with Capital Bank in Little Rock.
Allen Homra of Stuttgart has been named to Barron’s magazine’s list of America’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors for the third consecutive year.
Janie Ginocchio has been hired as director of public policy and advocacy for Southern Bancorp of Little Rock. The new position, as well as the public policy program as a whole, is administered and guided by Southern Bancorp Community Partners, the financial development nonprofit and loan fund partner to Southern Bancorp.
An Arkansas native, Ginocchio was previously lead policy and program analyst for the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care.
See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.
