New CEOs for AuburnBank, ACI Worldwide

AuburnBank — David Hedges has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Alabama-based AuburnBank and its parent company Auburn National Bancorporation, as part of the group’s leadership succession plan.

Hedges is currently chief financial officer, and will assume his new role on January 1, 2023, the bank said in a statement, when he will also become a company director. He has worked for AuburnBank since 2015, and previously worked at a number of different accounting firms.

He replaces Robert Dumas, who plans to retire at the end of this year after 39 years with the company. Dumas will remain as chairman of the board of directors.

As part of the leadership reshuffle, James Walker, currently chief accounting officer, will become CFO on January 1.

Merchants Bank of Indiana — Merchants Mortgage, a specialist division of Merchants Bank of Indiana, has hired two correspondent account executives.

Reija Eden and Bryan Neitzelt have joined Merchants Mortgage’s Western Region Sales Division.

Eden was previously responsible for wholesale and correspondent business in Orange County at JMAC Lending, and has also worked for Newfi Lending and Carrington Mortgage. Neitzelt joined Merchants from Northpointe Bank in Michigan, where he was a correspondent account manager.

First Republic Bank — The California-headquartered bank has expanded its wealth management offering with the addition of two new teams with 14 people between them.

A five-member team led by Marc Koch and Christopher Walters has joined First Republic Investment Management’s offices in New York and Connecticut, serving individuals, families, non-profits, and foundations. Both have been named managing directors and wealth managers. The team was previously affiliated to JP Morgan.

A separate nine-person team has joined the San Francisco office, led by Tim Argyres, Ted Rice, Nasser Abdulkariem and Greg Argyres. Each have been appointed as managing director and wealth manager. The team was previously affiliated with Merrill Lynch.

ACI Worldwide — The payments company has appointed Thomas Warsop as interim CEO following the departure of Odilon Almeida. Warsop was previously non-executive chair of ACI’s board.

Adalio Sanchez has been selected as non-executive chair, having been an independent board member since 2015. In a statement, ACI said it planned to “enter into a transition services agreement” with Almeida for the rest of this month.

First Foundation — Texas-based First Foundation — parent to First Foundation Bank — announced that company president David DePillo has left his role after seven years.

CFO Kevin Thompson has been named interim president of the company and the bank while a permanent successor to DePillo is identified. He has been CFO since 2020 when he joined from Opus Bank.

Colony Bankcorp — Edward Canup is Colony Bank’s new chief revenue officer and president of banking solutions.

In a statement, the Georgia-based bank said the newly created role would see Canup oversee business development and “the support of relationship banking”.

Canup joins from Capital City Bank where he worked for 39 years in a variety of senior executive roles including chief accounting officer, co-chief operating officer, and chief revenue officer.

National Bank of Coxsackie — The New York-based bank has appointed Sarah Hodgens as chief compliance officer. She joins from Ascentra Credit Union where she was vice president of compliance, and has also worked for New York Credit Union Association and First Niagara Bank.

Comerica — Andrew Raines has been named senior vice president and retail regional director for the North Texas, Arizona and Florida Region at Comerica Bank. In his new role, he will oversee 330 bankers responsible for more than $3.6 billion in deposits.

Raines joined Comerica in 2007 and was most recently vice president and district manager of the Lansing Jackson District in Michigan.