Roberts followed the money to a career in banking, where he helped increase loans at OneBanc from $90 million to more than $215 million in less than two and a half years.
Prior to that, the Pine Bluff native was winning monthly sales awards at First Commercial Bank/Regions Bank, where he worked five years as vice president and manager of private banking.
Roberts graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in finance. He promptly joined Memphis-based Union Planters Corp. as a management trainee in Hattiesburg, Miss. He rose to manager of out-of-state residential mortgage lending before returning to Arkansas in 1994.
During a three-year stint with Worthen National Bank of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville, Roberts moved from commercial real estate loan officer to residential mortgage loan officer.
Since relocating to Little Rock in 1996, his civic involvement has included the American Heart Association, Museum of Discovery and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.