OakStar hires mortgage powerhouse

Springfield-based OakStar Bank has hired veteran mortgage banker Aaron Jernigan from BancorpSouth.

Jernigan's first day was Dec. 21 at OakStar, where he serves as vice president of mortgage banking. He said the move from the Springfield branch of Tupelo-Miss.-based BancorpSouth, where he worked as senior vice president/regional manager since its 2007 merger with The Signature Bank, was amicable and primarily driven by his desire to work for a locally owned bank.

"I worked with a lot of the principals at OakStar nine years ago, when I was at The Bank, then it merged with Signature and became The Signature Bank, which merged with BancorpSouth," he said. "A lot of The Bank's management and team members have since joined OakStar, and I just wanted to get back."

Dave Kunze, Missouri president of BancorpSouth, said the company is looking to fill Jernigan's position, which generated more than $78 million in loans for the bank in 2009, according to Jernigan's résumé. To put his personal production into perspective, OakStar Bank president and CEO Randy Johnson said the total production of OakStar's mortgage department was $70 million in 2009.

"That's not to say anything about the performance of the team. They're all very good," he added. "It's just that's the kind of caliber Aaron is at."

Jernigan said his 2009 production was helped by interest rates below 5 percent, but he expected 2010 would be more challenging because those rates are expected to climb.

"Mortgage production is almost impossible to project. You're at the mercy, basically, of whatever the rates are," he said. "If we were having this conversation at the end of (2010) and I closed $50 million, I'd be very happy."

Mortgage Originator Magazine ranks Jernigan as the nation's 48th largest originator based on number of loans and the 117th largest based on loan volumes. In 2008, Jernigan produced 286 loans with volume of $58.5 million, according to the magazine's 2009 Top 200 list.

Johnson said the commercial-focused OakStar is working on building a "premiere mortgage team," one that he hopes would include between six to eight mortgage originators. Right now, he said, there are about 10 employees in the mortgage department, including Jernigan and another new hire from BancorpSouth, originator Sherry Burnett. Johnson said Burnett was not recruited by Jernigan.

Plans to beef up mortgage lending don't mean the bank is turning away from its commercial banking roots, Johnson added.

"We're not changing focus, but adding value to the bank. Aaron is a significant addition to the bank. He's recognized as one of the top originators in the nation," he said. "He has local experience, and he has passion in what he does."

A new OakStar marketing campaign emphasizes the passion among its people, Johnson noted. The campaign, created by The Marlin Co., promotes OakStar as a bank that employs local people with experience and passion to create a different banking experience.

"The board spent (November) doing strategic planning, and decided that if this is the way we're going to market ourselves to the community, then we'd better be doing it," he said. "Those three things are going to be our guiding principles."

One of the ways the bank plans to remain true to those principles is by introducing its employees to the open-book management practices of The Great Game of Business, Johnson said. The board has approved the adoption of open-book practices and the bank has begun educating employees, though the big kick-off won't begin until later this month.

Jernigan said OakStar's commitment to Great Game played a role in his decision to move banks.

"I played the game at The Bank and saw the effect it had on employees. I'm a firm believer in The Great Game of Business," he said.

Jernigan and Burnett were not the only signs of change at OakStar in 2009, Johnson said. The bank generated $15 million in capital by bringing in new investors, he said, and nine members were added to the board of directors. Assets are expected to increase to $155 million from approximately $100 million in January, he said. The bank is still finalizing financial projections for 2010, Johnson said.[[In-content Ad]]