The last remaining bank headquartered in Gastonia has hired a new leader, though he isn’t new to the area.
Officials with Alliance Bank & Trust this week selected Don Harrison to be their president and CEO, pending regulatory approval. He most recently served as executive vice president of commercial banking at CommunityOne Bank, now based in Asheboro.
Harrison has lived in Gastonia since 2004. He was recruited here to serve as president and CEO of First Gaston Bank, which eventually became CommunityOne. At the time, First Gaston was a $200 million financial institution with five Gaston County branches.
He will take the place of Dan Ayscue, who resigned as Alliance Bank’s president in March after four years at the helm. Alliance Bank board Chairman Wayne Shovelin had been serving as interim president and CEO.
Harrison was not available for comment this week. He is on vacation after recently finishing his tenure at CommunityOne, according to Shovelin.
He said the hire was a major triumph.
“It was a no-brainer. He’s a staple in the community,” said Shovelin. “It was a real coup for us to be able to land him. He was being recruited down in Charleston.”
Alliance Bank & Trust has 630 shareholders and operates four branches in Gastonia, Kings Mountain and Shelby. Its parent company is AB&T Financial Corporation.
Harrison has more than 30 years of experience in retail and commercial banking, all of which has been in the Carolinas and Virginia, Shovelin said. He will bring “a wealth of market knowledge to the table,” he said.
Harrison earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Georgia. He also holds a degree from the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Bank Management.
Harrison has taken on a number of volunteer leadership positions during his time in Gastonia. He has chaired Gaston Together and the Schiele Museum’s development committee, and has been a board member for the Gaston Economic Development Commission and the Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Shovelin said there’s a huge benefit to hiring a president who has a track record in the area, compared to sending a newcomer through a “community orientation.”
Alliance Bank has struggled in recent years under the weight of bad loans, which prompted federal regulators to impose restrictions in February 2012. As part of a consent order with the FDIC, the bank was ordered to review its management and resolve the problem loans. Such orders significantly increase the role of regulators in the bank’s operations, though they don’t indicate the bank is in imminent danger of failing.
Shovelin said last month that regulation has actually helped to strengthen the bank.
You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or twitter.com/GazetteMike.