Chris Roberts
Encore Bank
Chris Roberts is chairman and CEO of Encore Bank, a private, boutique bank headquartered in Little Rock. Roberts’ journey with Encore Bank began in 2019 when he became the chairman and CEO of The Capital Bank in Little Rock. With just seven associates, $159 million in assets, one office in Little Rock and a vision to build a different kind of bank, Roberts and his team rebranded that small Arkansas bank as Encore Bank and within three years, turned it into one of the fastest growing banks in the country. Under Roberts’ leadership, Encore Bank has completed two successful common equity raises, adding more than $196 million in capital, and has rapidly expanded its business lines and its footprint into 20 different markets across nine states. As of Feb. 24, 2022, Encore had $1.72 billion in total assets, 1,300 shareholders and approximately 230 employees.
Finance has been a keen interest of Roberts’ since he was a teenager, thanks to his investment banker father. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and has now been in banking for more than 30 years. From 1992 to 2005, Roberts served in various roles, moving up the ranks within the banking industry. In 2005, Roberts became founder, CEO and president of Centennial Bank and led the bank through many successful milestones until it was sold to Home Bancshares in 2009. He served as president of Delta Trust and Bank, from 2009 until it was sold to Simmons Bank in 2014. He then became executive vice president of corporate sales and private banking for Simmons. He held this position for four years before deciding he was ready for the encore of his career – one in which he would build a different kind of bank and name it: Encore Bank.
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The C-Suite: That place where most of us strive to be when we launch a career. Referring to the cluster of top-level executive positions within most companies — chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO) and chief information officer (CIO) — the C-Suite entails hard work, high stress and long hours. But the rewards can be substantial.
AMP asked readers to tell us who their favorite C-Suite executives were. Their titles may not precisely reflect “CEO” or any of the others, but their roles do. This isn’t a “best of” or a “top executives” list; but it’s a way to recognize many of those business executives in Arkansas whose hard work makes The Natural State a great place to live and work.
Click here to see the full 2022 AMP C-Suite!
