Valley Bank Names New President and First Farmers and Merchants Bank Appoints Chairman and CEO

Wayne, New Jersey-based Valley Bank has promoted Thomas Iadanza to president, replacing Ira Robbins who will remain chief executive officer.

Most recently, Iadanza was senior executive vice president and chief banking officer.

In his new role, Iadanza will oversee the bank’s day-to-day operations including commercial banking, retail banking, digital products, credit, customer experience and financial services.

Columbia, Tennessee-based First Farmers and Merchants Bank has announced the retirement of T. Randy Stevens as chairman and chief executive officer.

Brian K. Williams, the bank’s president will succeed Stevens as chairman and CEO of the bank, effective January 1, 2022.

Stevens will continue as chairman of the board and CEO of First Farmers and Merchants Corporation.

Stevens said: “I have worked closely with Brian for the past 28 years at First Farmers. He has served in key lending, credit, and trust officer positions and as the Bank’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer prior to his promotion as the Bank’s President in 2016.”

Atlanta-based Regions Bank has named Leo Loughead, a 27-year finance industry veteran as financial services group leader.

Loughead joined Regions in 2018 as a managing director for the Financial Services Group. Over the past three years, he was responsible for developing the team’s strategy for structuring and executing credit services, capital markets solutions, and strategic transactions for companies and private equity sponsors active in the financial services industry.

Ward Cheatham, head of specialized industries at Regions Bank, said: “Leo’s leadership skills, combined with his depth and breadth of experience providing advisory and capital raising solutions for specialty finance clients, position our team for additional success in serving this sector.”

Prior to joining Regions Loughead spent eight years at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, including four years as its head of the Asset Securitization Group.

He oversaw warehouse lending and bond distribution across several key client sectors including consumer finance, commercial finance, and equipment finance.