MOBILE, Ala., May 15, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Hancock Bank of Alabama, which opened its first downtown Mobile financial center earlier this month, recently named three of Mobile's most outstanding business and civic leaders to the company's Alabama board of directors.
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Business consultant and retired Degussa Corporation executive Charles E. Story, Alabama Power Company Mobile Division Vice President Cheryl A. Thompson, and commercial law attorney C. Richard Wilkins have joined the Hancock Bank of Alabama Board of Directors as local advisors for the company's continued growth throughout the metropolitan Mobile area.
Jerry Broughton, Hancock's senior Mobile lender, said that Hancock has a longstanding tradition of relying on local business leaders to advise the company in its efforts to facilitate commerce and opportunity across a Gulf South market that spans the I-10 corridor from almost Texas to Tallahassee.
"We are very pleased to welcome Charles Story, Cheryl Thompson, and Richard Wilkins to the Hancock Bank of Alabama board. These professionals have demonstrated extraordinary achievement within their respective fields and exemplary dedication to the ongoing economic, philanthropic, and cultural growth of Mobile -- a sense of community commitment that has remained central to Hancock's core values since 1899," said Broughton.
Broughton said that Hancock's Mobile and Baldwin counties expansion forges a natural, strategic link between the bank's existing South Mississippi and Florida Panhandle franchises and encompasses one of the Gulf South's most dynamic hubs of commerce and development. With a focus on commercial services, small business banking, and wealth management, Hancock's downtown Dauphin Street office precipitates additional growth in Mobile and the Eastern Shore area.
"Many of our customers already have established business and family connections within the Mobile area. Opening our first location in downtown Mobile and, subsequently growing in Mobile and Baldwin counties helps strengthen Hancock's extensive network of convenient Gulf South locations and delivers Hancock's comprehensive money management choices to Mobile businesses and families through local professionals who know and understand the community," said Broughton.
The Hancock Bank of Alabama Directors
Mobile native Charles E. Story is a graduate of The University Military School. He received a bachelor of science degree in industrial management from Auburn University. His career includes almost 30 years in human resources at Vanity Fair, Teledyne Continental Motors, and the Degussa Corporation. Story retired from Degussa in November 2002 after serving 13 years as the company's vice president of government and public affairs responsible for handling all state and federal legislation affecting Degussa sites across North America. He was also the media spokesperson for the company's operations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Story is currently a political consultant to a number of companies as well as the Business Council of Alabama.
Additionally, he serves on the legislative affairs committee of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. He chairs the local Volunteers Of America board and is active on the Springhill Hospital, Mobile Works, and the Business Council of Alabama boards. Story also serves on the personnel committee and as a deacon at Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile.
Cheryl A. Thompson joined Alabama Power Company in 1972, and in 1992, became assistant to the vice president of the Birmingham Division of Alabama Power Company. She served as manager of Montevallo and East Jefferson district operations and as a corporate marketing segment manager. In 1996 she was named Southeast region manager at Georgia Power Company. She returned to Alabama Power Company in January 1998 for her current assignment as vice president of the company's Mobile division. A native of Alexander City, Thompson holds a bachelor of science degree from Auburn University and a master of business administration degree from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has completed the Advanced Management Program at Templeton University in Oxford, England, and the Women in Power Program at Harvard University. The Leadership Alabama graduate and board chair served as president of the Industrial Development Board and on the boards of the Business Council of Alabama, Industrial Park of Mobile County, and the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. She is also an advisory board member for the Mobile County Public School System, Springhill College, and University of South Alabama Mitchell College of Business. She is married to Jerry Thompson.
C. Richard Wilkins, of the Mobile law firm of Vickers, Riis, Murray and Curran, LLC, primarily practices in commercial litigation, commercial transactions, finance, admiralty, real estate, and bankruptcy. The University of Alabama graduate holds a bachelor's degree in commerce and business administration and received his juris doctor from The University of Alabama School of Law. A member of the Alabama State Bar, American Bar Association, the Torts and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), the Business Law Section, the Mobile Bar Association, and the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, he is licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of Alabama, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama. Wilkins currently serves on the boards of directors of the Mobile Chapter of the American Heart Association, Mobile Association for the Blind, and Goodwill/Easter Seals of Southwest Alabama. He is a member, former president, and director of the Mobile Rotary Club and a member of the Senior Bowl Committee. Wilkins, his wife (the former Jeanie Guthans of Mobile), and their three sons are members of St. Ignatius Catholic Church.
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About Hancock Bank
Founded October 10, 1899, Hancock Bank is the only financial services company headquartered in the Gulf South to rate among the top 20 percent of America's top performing banks, Hancock consistently ranks as one of the country's strongest, safest financial institutions, according to Veribanc, Inc., and BauerFinancial Services, Inc. Thomson Financial also recently listed Hancock as the ninth largest corporate trustee bank in the U.S.
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Hancock Holding Company (Nasdaq:HBHC) -- parent company of Hancock Bank of Alabama, Hancock Bank Mississippi, Hancock Bank of Florida, and Hancock Bank of Louisiana -- has assets of more than $6 billion. Bank subsidiaries include Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency, and Harrison Finance Company. Additionally, the company operates corporate trust offices in Gulfport, Jackson, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge. Hancock's trust department, a division of the wealth management group, has assets of $7.4 billion, with assets under management of $2.31 billion, as of December 31, 2006.
More corporate information and online banking are available at www.hancockbank.com.
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