Southern Bancorp Inc. Searches for New CEO

Did you notice that Southern Bancorp Inc. is advertising a job opening for a CEO?

Southern Bancorp Inc. of Arkadelphia is the holding company for Southern Bancorp Bank and the nonprofit Southern Bancorp Community Partners.

Chairman Walter Smiley has held the job of interim CEO since former CEO Phil Baldwin left in January 2011.

Dominik Mjartan, spokesman for Southern Bancorp, said Southern has just started pushing the national search and hasn’t set a particular deadline for when a hire should be made.

“I don’t have any specific timeline, but [Smiley] is committed to finding a good replacement for himself, and then remaining the chairman of the holding company as long as the board wishes him to be in that position,” Mjartan said.