Poplar Bluff-based Southern Missouri Bancorp Inc. has named a new community bank president for its Springfield office and promoted the current president to a corporate position.
Justin Cox, formerly vice president of commercial lending, has been named community bank president. He succeeds Dave Tooley, a 35-year banking veteran who came out of retirement in September 2010 to
open a Southern Bank loan production office, which later became the holding company's first Springfield branch. Cox also was instrumental in converting the loan office into a full-service branch, according to a news release.
Tooley has been granted a position on the Southern Missouri Bancorp Board of Directors. Prior to joining Southern Missouri Bank, he served as president and CEO of Metropolitan National Bank.
In an
August article, Cox told Springfield Business Journal that Southern Missouri is looking to bring its Springfield market branch count to three or four and possibly expand to Christian County.
“A lot of it is going to depend on how fast we grow this year. There are just a lot of factors,” Cox said in the article.
Southern Bank, which initially opened as the Poplar Bluff Loan and Building Association in 1887, operates 17 branches and one loan production office in Missouri and Arkansas. As of Sept. 30, the company's assets were $718.5 million.
Shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp (Nasdaq: SMBC) were trading at $22.75 as of 8:53 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $15 to 28.[[In-content Ad]]