Arvest Bank announced today, Aug. 30, that Ron Witherspoon has been named local bank president and CEO in Little Rock, a role which includes parts of central and southwest Arkansas, effective Nov. 1. Witherspoon will be returning to Little Rock after eight years as the local bank president for Arvest in Oklahoma City, prior to which he was a sales manager in Little Rock from 2001 to 2014. He will be replacing Jim Cargill, who will be retiring at year’s end.
“Ron has been a strong leader within our bank for many years now,” Arvest regional executive Craig Rivaldo said. “His experience, leadership capabilities and deep knowledge of Little Rock and all of central Arkansas make him an ideal fit for this position. We have enjoyed and sustained significant growth in Central Arkansas, and I’m confident Ron will continue to lead us on that trajectory.”
Witherspoon is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, the American Bankers Association School of Bank Marketing and Management at the University of Colorado and the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University. Prior to his time in Oklahoma City, he served as a board member in civic organizations, such as the United Way of Central Arkansas, the American Heart Association – Little Rock – the Arkansas Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and UALR’s Trojan Athletic Association.
“We are incredibly excited to return to central Arkansas, a place that means so much to us,” Witherspoon said. “I can’t wait to reconnect with our customers and associates, the business and governmental communities and the many nonprofits that do meaningful work there. Arvest is in the midst of a transformation designed to meet the evolution within our industry, and I look forward to helping us meet our customers’ changing needs and expectations. We’ll do it with the same level of award-winning customer service we’ve always provided.”
“I also want to say thank you to all our customers, associates and community members in Oklahoma City. It has been a great privilege to serve those groups for eight-plus years.”
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