Stuart, FL., January 17, 2003Stuart, FL - First National Bank and Trust Company (FNB), the operating subsidiary of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ: SBCF) will open two full service offices in late January. The offices will be located at 710 U.S. Highway One in front of County Line Plaza and at 4050 U.S. Highway One in The Bluffs Center Shoppes.
"We are extremely pleased to be expanding into this dynamic and fast growing area." said Dennis Hudson, CEO. “The close proximity to our southernmost market in Martin County and the demographics of Jupiter and Tequesta make this a great market for us. With the recent mergers and acquisitions in North Palm Beach, our SuperCommunity Bank philosophy brings to these communities a sound $1.2 billion institution staffed by highly skilled professionals offering what we refer to as the third alternative in banking – a unique combination of the sophisticated products and services offered by large banks, enhanced by the personal relationships and high quality customer service of a community bank. It is what we believe people want; local bankers with decision making capabilities who are knowledgeable about the markets they serve and are very responsive to the requests and needs of the customer.”
Heading up the Palm Beach County market is Jean Strickland as President of Palm Beach County. Strickland has twenty-six years' experience in financial services with an extensive background in business lending and has been with First National for twelve years. Most recently, she served as the bank's Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Retail, Credit and Systems Support. Strickland has a B.S. degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Joining Strickland is Eileen St. Denis as Regional Retail Manager for Palm Beach County. St. Denis comes to First National from Fidelity Federal Savings Bank where she served as Business Development officer. Prior to that, she was with Community Savings where she served as Vice President/Regional Retail Manager for Palm Beach County. St. Denis will oversee all retail branches in Palm Beach County and will be based in the Tequesta office. First National expects to open three more branches in North Palm Beach within the next twenty months.
Tanya Coldren will take on the management of the Bluffs Center Shoppes branch. Coldren was previously the branch manager of the Mariner Square branch for First National Bank. She has been in banking for over twenty years and has been with First National for nine. Ms. Coldren has an Associates Degree in education from California State University.
"We are extremely excited to be entering into Jupiter and Tequesta. This team of professionals, all of whom have track records of superior achievement, includes our commercial team of Rich Caspar and Jennifer Brancaccio and our mortgage bankers, Michael Weinthal, Gregg Ewald and Ron Semich. We will also be providing a mobile banking service to our business customers, providing even greater convenience. We believe our brand of SuperCommunity Banking will be well received by the consumers and businesses here as it has been in our other markets." said Strickland.
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has approximately $1.2 billion in assets, is a bank holding company headquartered in Stuart, Florida. First National Bank operates a network of 26 full-service branches in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties providing a full range of traditional banking products as well as trust, brokerage, investment management and private banking services. At the end of 2002, the Company managed approximately $700 million of investment funds and is one of the largest independent commercial banking organizations in Florida, headquartered on Florida's Treasure Coast, one of the wealthiest and fastest growing areas in the nation.
For more information contact:
Dennis S. Hudson, III
President & Chief Executive Officer
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida
(561) 288-6086