Monday, April 29, 2024

OBA board nominees selected for consideration by membership

Pursuant to Article V, Section 5.4 of the By Laws of the OBA, notice is hereby given of the slate of nominees that have been selected by each of Board’s nominating committees to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors. The slate of nominees will be considered by the membership on May 9 at the annual meeting and convention of the OBA, to be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman.

The Board consists of 25 members, 18 of which are elected for three-year terms, with three directors being elected from each of the OBA’s six geographic groups. Within each group, the terms of the Board members are staggered and they represent banks in the upper one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group, the middle one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group and the lower one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group. This year the nominees are for those Board seats representing the upper one-third of banks holding deposits within each group.

The nominees are as follows:

Group 1: Nancy Cantu, senior vice president and COO
Bank of Commerce, Duncan

Group 2: Bill Fanning, president and COO
Stock Exchange Bank, Woodward

Group 3: Jeff Merwin, president and CEO
Firstar Bank, Sallisaw

Group 4: Beth Wright, vice president/operations
Shamrock Bank, Coalgate

Group 5: Steve Hart, president
First Fidelity Bank, Oklahoma City

Group 6: Sean Kouplen, president and CEO
Regent Bank, Tulsa

Additionally, pursuant to Section 6.3 of the By Laws of the Oklahoma Bankers Association, notice is hereby given of the nominee for the office of First Vice Chair. The nominee was selected from among more than a dozen names that had been submitted to the Nominating Committee for consideration.

The nominee for the office of First Vice Chair of the Oklahoma Bankers Association is:

Steve Bagwell, president & CEO
Vision Bank, Ada

The members of the OBA will vote on who will become the next First Vice Chairman at the Annual Meeting of the Association for FY 2023-2024. That meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 9, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman. The meeting will begin at approximately noon and nominations may be made from the floor.

If elected by the membership, Bagwell will succeed Alicia Wade, president and COO, Valliance Bank, Oklahoma City, who will become vice chair at the Convention. Bagwell will automatically become vice chair at the FY 2024-2025 Annual Meeting and Convention and automatically will become chair at the FY 2025-2026 Annual Meeting and Convention.