Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff on Monday named Henry A. "Rusty" Barham III its executive vice president for regulatory and consumer affairs and assistant general counsel.
Barham has been in the banking industry for 28 years and has been a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association for 34 years. Barham most recently was executive vice president and general counsel for Origin Bancorp Inc. of Ruston, Louisiana.
"With our recent acquisition announcements, we'll be moving into new states," said George A. Makris Jr., chairman and CEO of Simmons First National Corp., in a news release. "We will move over the $10 billion mark with significant new regulatory requirements. Rusty is known as a problem solver who has a strong, positive reputation with regulators. He is well prepared to help us navigate our growth. We feel fortunate to have him join us."
After serving as a law clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Barham worked as an associate for a law firm in Baton Rouge then as assistant attorney general in the Civil Section of the Louisiana Department of Justice.
He entered the banking industry in 1989 as a staff attorney with Baton Rouge Bank & Trust Co. Barham later become the bank's general counsel. In 1994, he joined Whitney National Bank of New Orleans and served as an executive there for 17 years.
Barham joined Hancock Bank as a senior vice president after Hancock acquired Whitney. He moved to Associated Banc-Corp. of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in March 2012 but returned to Louisiana in 2014 to join Origin's staff.
He received his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and his law degree from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU.