Guaranty promotes CTO

Photo provided by Guaranty Bank

Nick Lofaro

Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: GFED) increased the responsibilities of its chief technology officer.

Nick Lofaro, who joined the Guaranty Bank operator in 2014 as vice president and CTO, was promoted to chief information officer, according to a news release issued yesterday. Guaranty spokesman Ryan Bowling said Lofaro retains his CTO duties.

Guaranty Director of Marketing Carlye Wannenmacher said the company’s previous CIO, Ken Johnston, in 2016 was promoted to chief information security officer.

“This allowed him to focus more on the increasingly important security aspect of our information technology department,” Wannenmacher said via email. “The banking industry has placed such a significant emphasis on security that we’ve created two lead roles in IT — CISO and CIO — to manage these vital functions.”

Lofaro previously was vice president and chief information officer at Liberty Bank until his late 2014 hire by Guaranty Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. Pine Bluff, Arkansas-based Simmons First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC) closed on the purchase of Liberty Bancshares Inc. in early 2015 for $206.9 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Guaranty in January reported $7.3 million in 2018 net income, a company record.

GFED shares were trading at $23.17 as of 10:05 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $20.11 to $27.39.