Jeff Richardson has been promoted to community executive for Simmons Bank in Saline County.
Richardson has nearly 25 years of industry experience.
Prior to joining Simmons in 2018 as a senior vice president and community banker, Richardson served as senior vice president for commercial lending at Bank OZK.
Hatim Smouni, a first vice president with Merrill Lynch in Little Rock, has earned the Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor credential from the National Association of Plan Advisors.
Derrek Thomason is the new regional president for Malvern National Bank in the Little Rock area.
Thomason has more than 30 years of banking experience and has worked for several banks, including Worthen, Regions, Summit and Bear State.
John French has been promoted to the new position of executive vice president for risk and operations by Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia.
French has led Southern’s risk management and compliance departments as a senior vice president since 2006.
Eric Johnston and Jay Bankston have been hired as vendor business development representatives for Arvest Equipment Finance in Fort Smith, a division of Arvest Bank.
Johnston most recently worked for Caterpillar Inc. and previously worked as a territory manager for IronPlanet. Bankston most recently worked as a regional sales manager for BigIron Auctions.
Other new hires at AEF are Carrie Guire and Stacey Nichols, sales support specialists, and Mike Davis, asset manager.
Mac Barnes has been promoted to field director for Northwestern Mutual Kinard Financial Group in Little Rock. John Chen is now the group’s college unit director.
See more of this week’s Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.
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