102 Years and Growing

Oklahoma celebrates its centennial this year.

Oklahoma celebrates its centennial this year, and there are very few banking institutions that have the distinction of being around when statehood became official. Arkansas Valley State Bank is one of those institutions. Not only is AVSB a fourth generation, family-owned bank founded in Indian Territory two years before statehood, but they also still have customers who are descendants of the original clients.

“Our bank has consistently grown over the last 100 years,” says CEO Terry Almon, who points out that two new branches have been opened in the last couple of years at 121st and Elm in Broken Arrow and 51st and Mingo in Tulsa. “But even though we see increasing competition, the bank continues to modify plans to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the community.”

Almon relates that due to the growth of the bank, it was necessary to recently separate the credit and lending functions. As a result of this change, Danny Williams has assumed responsibility for the credit function as Chief Credit Officer. Williams has over 30 years of banking experience and has been with AVSB for five years.

Assuming the Chief Lending Officer’s responsibilities is Don Ferrell, who has also been promoted to Executive Vice President. Ferrell has been in the banking industry for almost 40 years and has recently celebrated his 30th anniversary with AVSB. He is proud to have witnessed AVSB’s continued growth over those years and looks forward to seeing more of the same. “AVSB is positioned for continued growth in Broken Arrow and the Tulsa Metropolitan area,” Ferrell says. “We have always been a leader in the community, especially supporting small business growth.”

“We feel that all the recent promotions are extremely deserved and we’re very fortunate to have well qualified and experienced professionals and bankers on our staff,” says Almon, who lists several other promotions at AVSB. LaTaunya Williams, who has been with AVSB for a little over a year, was recently promoted from Assistant Vice President to Vice President. She also serves as Marketing Director and is responsible for overall marketing, public relations and sale support for the lending and depository functions of each branch. AVSB Human Resources Director Jeff Faust, who just celebrated his seventh month with AVSB, was promoted from Assistant Vice President to Vice President as was Joe Mann, who is a commercial lender at the Mingo location. Marlee Jacobs was recently promoted from Credit Analyst to Credit Officer and works within the credit administration of the bank. Finally, Commercial Loan Officer Trevor Montgomery was promoted from Assistant Vice President to Vice President.

“Trevor works from our main bank location,” says Almon, “But you’ll find him out in the field, visiting with customers on location, more than in the bank building itself.”

Almon adds that this is actually a common factor with all officers of the bank that have a lot of customer contact. “Even though we are opening multiple locations, you’ll still find most of our officers visiting with customers in their respective places of businesses,” she relates.

This practice is just one part of fulfilling AVSB’s commitment to community service. “Community involvement is an expectation of all our officers,” says Almon, who points out AVSB’s affiliation with many local non-profit organizations and community sponsorships. “We believe that’s what a bank should do—invest back into the community and help to build it.”

For more information, contact

AVSB

(918) 251-9611

www.avsb.com