Dale Cole
First Community Bank
The vision of 153 local investors came together on Aug. 4, 1997, when First Community Bank opened for business at 710 St. Louis St. in Batesville, with 14 employees and $3.5 million in capital. Chairman and CEO Dale Cole started his banking career March 1, 1974, and moved up through the ranks of banks in Texas and Arkansas. In 1996, he was let go when Boatmen’s Bank merged with NationsBank. Close friends in Batesville told Cole that he should start a bank–– so that’s what he did. Today, First Community Bank has grown to 470 employees and is proud to be the seventh largest bank chartered in Arkansas. Cole was one of the original board members in August of 1997, and has been at the helm of the ship ever since. He knows that wherever you find a strong bank, you will find a strong community. And wherever you find strong communities, you will find strong banks.
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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!
