Florida Banking November 2021

PERSONAL TRANSACTIONS

His team includes newcomer Nicholas Worder , an assistant vice president and commercial lending officer with a dozen years’ experience. SARASOTA Imelda Hart (left) and Cecilia

also graduated the Upstarts Student Venture Accelerator Program, designed to help aspiring business owners grow and launch their own businesses prior to graduating. First Home Bank announced

that Bob Sanders has joined its Residential Mortgage Division as senior vice president and residential area sales manager for Tampa Bay.

Contreras-Carrillo , who have extensive banking experience in the Sarasota area, are the new retail

Sanders has more than 30 years of experience at several top banks throughout the Southeast. Most recently, he served as an area mortgage manager for Regions Bank, leading a team of more than 45 employees producing more than $700 million for the Tampa Bay market in 2020. Sanders holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland and serves as board member for Metro Inclusive Health as well as board member and treasurer for the Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber where he earned the President’s Award in appreciation for his leadership, service and dedication to the chamber in 2020. WAUCHULA Clara Laurent has been appointed principal financial advisor for Wauchula State Financial Services, which offers investment and Sanders

Hart (left), Contreras-Carriollo

banking officer and retail operations manager, respectively, of the Crews Bank & Trust Sarasota office. ST. PETERSBURG First Home Bank has named Kevin Franzese vice president, commercial lending officer. He will be responsible for generating and developing new relationships throughout the Tampa Bay market. A banking leader with more than 25 years of experience in bank management, marketing and direct sales, Franzese most recently served as a market executive at Bank OZK, where he worked with a commercial banking team of six, a $64 million loan portfolio and $360 million in deposits. He also held a leadership role working with a statewide team of 40 that generated more than 1,600 Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling more than $125 million. Franzese holds a Bachelor of Science degree with emphasis on financial analysis, marketing and management from the University of South Florida. He is also on the Board of Directors for Rotary International (Tampa) and Meals on Wheels and serves as Treasurer for the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce. First Home Bank has named Tyler Maragh vice president, SBA Franzese Bank, Maragh served as associate vice president, business development officer at Byline Bank in Tampa where he specialized in SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans and earned the Sales Achievement Award in 2020. Prior to that, he held the role of vice president, loan originations for Liberty SBF in Chicago. Maragh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Business Management, and a minor in finance from the University of Central Florida, from where he Maragh lending officer. He assumes the role within the bank’s SBA loan division, CreditBench, one of the top producing SBA lenders in the country. Prior to joining First Home

insurance products and services through Infinex Investments, Inc. Laurent moved into the position

Laurent

after spending five years working with Denise Tomlinson , who retired in May. Assisting Laurent at WSFS is Joy Evers, who recently joined the investment team after more than 17 years with Wauchula State Bank.

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WWW.FLORIDABANKERS.COM NOVEMBER 2021 — 23