COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) - The largest bank based in Georgia is getting a new CEO.
Columbus-based Synovus Financial Corp. announced Thursday that current President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Blair will become the bank’s new CEO in April at the time of the company’s annual shareholders meeting.
Blair is succeeding Chairman and CEO Kessel Stelling in a planned transition. Stelling, who has been CEO since 2010, will become executive chairman at that time. The bank plans for Stelling to remain in that role until the beginning of 2023, and then remain in an advisory role until the beginning of 2025.
Blair was named chief operating officer in December 2018. He joined Synovus as chief financial officer in 2016, part of a 24-year career in banking.
Under Stelling’s leadership, Synovus merged what had previously been 30 separate bank subsidiaries into one. Stelling also saw Synovus through the aftermath of the Great Recession, which causes steep losses to Synovus and many other banks.
Synovus was founded as Columbus Bank & Trust in 1888. It has $53 billion in assets, with 289 branches in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.
Synovus has 7.8% of deposits in Georgia, the fourth-largest market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The three larger banks, Truist, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, are based elsewhere.
Out of 5,400 employees, about 1,900 are in the Columbus area, Synovus spokesman Lee Underwood told the Ledger-Enquirer.
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