First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Miss., has consolidated the titles of chairman and CEO.
The $6 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that CEO Hoppy Cole had also become its chairman. He succeeded E. Ricky Gibson, who remains on the board.
Ted Parker was named lead independent director.
Gibson “has been an integral part and significant contributor to the success of our company,” Cole said in the release. “Under his leadership … we have grown from a small local company to a regional bank serving communities in the southeast with over 900 team members and 97 locations.”