The executives named to Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2023 list of Women in Banking were nominated by readers. In a male-dominated industry, their perseverance, hard work and expertise have propelled them to influential positions in Arkansas banking and finance. We are proud to recognize them in this month’s issue.
Elizabeth Burns Anderson
Farmers Bank & Trust
Kenlea Baker
Kenlea Baker
Bank of Fayetteville
Kenlea Baker serves as vice president, market operations coordinator, for the Bank of Fayetteville and Farmers & Merchants Bank. Baker joined the bank as a teller and eventually worked as a loan assistant, loan processor, lender and branch manager. Most recently, Baker served as VP, training officer, for the bank before being promoted to her current position. Baker’s experience and wide range of knowledge make her a natural fit for her new role.
Brenda Baldwin
Centennial Bank
Tiffany Barger
Tiffany Barger
Simmons Bank
Tiffany Barger is vice president for medical and professional banking at Simmons Bank. Prior to joining the Simmons team in 2021, she served as VP/senior private banker and VP/private banking advisor for Arvest Bank. She previously worked as a mortgage loan officer for Regions Bank and Bank of the Ozarks (now Bank OZK), the latter for which she was responsible for an increase of 102 percent in loans she closed over a one-year period, and she also served as a mortgage and customer loan assistant at Arvest. Barger received her business finance degree from the University of Central Arkansas.
Artina Blackmon
Artina Blackmon
People’s Trust Community
Federal Credit Union
Artina Blackmon is the senior vice president of programs and community development for People Trust Community Loan Fund, affiliated with People Trust Community Federal Credit Union, a CDFI providing access to capital in low- to moderate-income communities. She previously served as programs and marketing director for the fund.
Blackmon, the owner of ABeYou & Create Design Co., is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in business management. She holds Consumer Solar Lending and Community Development Finance certifications and is licensed as a financial literacy instructor/professional manager through the National Financial Educators Council.
Matuschka Lindo Briggs
Federal Reserve Bank
Little Rock Branch
Laura Wood Brissey
Laura Wood Brissey
First Community Bank
Laura Wood Brissey is an accomplished professional with extensive legal expertise and a strong commitment to both career and family. Laura holds a juris doctor degree with honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Texas A & M University. She currently serves as the executive vice president and general counsel at First Community Bank in Batesville, where she oversees a wide range of legal matters including regulatory issues, mergers, acquisitions, litigation, labor and employment concerns, and more. Laura also serves as the bank’s ethics officer and chairs the pandemic committee and committee for employee financial assistance. Before her current role, Laura was an associate at Troutman Pepper in Atlanta, GA., where she represented clients in various employment disputes, harassment and discrimination claims, employment contract disputes, and wage and hour-law issues.
Lisa Brumley
Lisa Brumley
Arvest Bank
Lisa Brumley is a senior private banker, vice president at Arvest Bank. Brumley’s experience in the financial-service industry includes more than 25 years of service in Arkansas. During that time, she has served multiple private banking households and public fund entities throughout Arkansas.
In her current role as a senior private banker, Brumley offers concierge service and integrated advice in all areas of financial management to address the immediate and future financial needs of clients in Central Arkansas. She is a board member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Tempie Busby
First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas
Santana Campbell
Santana Campbell
Stone Bank
Hometown girl Santana Campbell joined Stone Bank in 2022 as assistant branch manager for the Harrison branch. She is responsible for all retail banking operations at the Harrison location.
Campbell earned a business administration degree from North Arkansas College in Harrison and recently graduated from the Boone County Leadership Institute. She serves as an ambassador for the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce. Campbell joined Stone Bank after five years with Anstaff Bank.
Hallie Calvin
Centennial Bank
Sheila Cannon
Sheila Cannon
Stone Bank
Sheila Cannon has been a retail banker in the Pine Bluff and White Hall market for more than 30 years and has served as Stone Bank’s White Hall vice president and branch manager for the past six years. During her tenure with the bank, the White Hall location has grown assets by more than $50 million. As one of the most senior retail officers in the bank, Cannon has many responsibilities related to training and mentoring tellers and customer service representatives in all of Stone Bank’s locations.
Other duties include balancing teller cash for all branch locations and assisting other retail staff with daily operations and procedures. Prior to joining Stone Bank, Sheila was a branch manager for Simmons Bank Pine Bluff.
Vicki Chapin
Cadence Bank
Kim Cullum
Kim Cullum
First Arkansas Bank & Trust
As an executive vice president and a member of First Arkansas Bank & Trust’s executive committee, Kim Cullum has been instrumental in the success and growth of the bank she has served for 34 years. Most recently, she led the charge in helping the bank surpass the $1 billion mark in total assets.
She is a multi-year recipient of CFO of the Year awards and has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a mentor to many at the bank and in the industry. A native of Jacksonville, Cullum graduated from Hendrix College in Conway.
Olivia Davis
Olivia Davis
Arvest Bank
Olivia Davis is the mortgage lender supervisor and vice president for Arvest Bank in Little Rock. In her role, Davis helps make homeownership dreams a reality while helping a team of others do the same.
Since joining Arvest eight years ago, she has served on the board for the Mortgage Bankers Association of Arkansas, on the advisory council for the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and on several committees inside and outside of the bank. Davis graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a bachelor’s degree and jumped right into the real estate world.
Tina Davis
Farmers Bank & Trust
Sandi Watkins Elliott
Cadence Bank
Valerie Erkman
Arkansas Federal Credit Union
Amy Fitzgerald
Amy Fitzgerald
First National Bank
Amy Fitzgerald has served as the CFO of First National Bank of Lawrence County in Walnut Ridge for eight years. She has worked in banking for 23 years in positions that include VP/controller, VP/internal audit manager, VP/loan officer and AVP/assistant controller. Prior to banking, she worked as an auditor for an accounting firm.
Fitzgerald earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and is a Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor through Independent Community Bankers of America. She also serves as secretary for the Rotary Club of Lawrence County and as clerk for the Arkansas State Association of Free Will Baptists.
Robin Hackett
First Service Bank
Jennifer Boyd Hardin
Jennifer Boyd Hardin
The Bank of Fayetteville
Jennifer Hardin brings more than 25 years of experience to her role as COO for the bank of Fayetteville and Farmers & Merchants Bank. Since starting her career with the Bank of Fayetteville as a part-time teller after high school, Hardin has worked as a loan processor, lender, branch manager and as VP, retail operations officer. Most recently, Hardin served as the market president. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and is an alumnus of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado.
Julie Hinkle
Bank of Cave City
Angela Horton
Angela Horton
Generations Bank
Angela Horton is the sales manager at Generations Bank, a 115-year-old community bank led by five generations of the Harrell family.
Horton was co-founder and part of senior leadership for two charitable organizations, where she spent more than 17 years in management, department development and staff training. She pivoted to banking six years ago with an understanding that to truly excel as a banker, she would need to learn the industry from the ground up. With that goal in mind, she took on her first banking role as a financial service representative and worked her way up through various roles on both sides of the bank ledger, eventually serving as AVP, commercial lending, before becoming sales manager.
Cathy Horton
Fidelity Bank
Marla Hunter
Malvern National Bank
Tanya James
Tanya James
Arvest Bank
Tanya James is a people-centered banker with 20-plus years of experience who serves as program director of talent management for Arvest Bank’s four-state footprint: Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas. James oversees executive coaching, talent reviews, succession planning, internships, apprenticeships and mentoring.
James is a graduate of Leadership Greater Little Rock Class XXXIII, a sustainer of Junior League of Little Rock, a member of the Little Rock chapter of The Links, a member of Beta Pi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and serves on several community boards, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Arkansas, Rotary Club of Little Rock and Camp Aldersgate.
Kasey Jaracz
First Service Bank
Pansy Johnson
Pansy Johnson
Arvest Bank
Pansy Johnson is a treasury management sales specialist at Arvest Bank, where she specializes in risk management, assisting commercial and corporate clients, and supporting a team of treasury management senior commercial sales advisors. Since joining the bank in 2020, she has served on numerous committees, both internal and external.
Pansy attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in public relations. She is currently pursuing an MBA at Southern New Hampshire University. She is a member of the Chi Eta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Junior League of Little Rock.
Elizabeth Kelley
Equity Bank
Cassandra Kidd
U.S. Bank
Karen Kitchens
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kimberly M. Lee
Kimberly M. Lee
Hope Credit Union
Kimberly M. Lee is the financial inclusion officer at Hope Credit Union. In this role, she is responsible for building membership and partnerships while providing financial literacy and education to the members she serves. She has more than 15 years of experience in the industry.
Lee is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Phoenix. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and serves as a commissioner for the Little Rock Land Bank Commission and on the board of Friends of KLRE/KUAR, as well as being a member of various boards and organizations. She is a sickle cell survivor and advocates for those battling the rare disease.
Andrea Hogan Lewis
Andrea Hogan Lewis
First Security Bank
Andrea Hogan Lewis is an assistant vice president and CRA officer for First Security Bank, where she spearheads the bank’s in-school banking program to promote youth financial literacy. An engaged community member, she is active in organizations such as the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, Our House and Economics Arkansas. She also serves as Little Rock’s city director for Ward 6.
A native of Turrell and an alumnus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she earned an MBA, Lewis also owns her own hair-care line, Wash & Go, which encourages women of color to wear and style their naturally textured hair.
Mia Winn Long
Simmons Bank
Kim Markland
Bank of Little Rock
Nicole Matsoukas
Arkansas Federal Credit Union
Michelle Phillips
Michelle Phillips
First Security Bank
A native of Dermott, Michelle Phillips moved to Conway to attend the University of Central Arkansas where she earned her Bachelor of Business degree in accounting. Michelle Phillips is a CPA and was in public accounting for more than 25 years. She owned a firm for 12 years before joining the banking industry. She is currently a commercial lender at First Security Bank. Her favorite part of being a banker is partnering with businesses and serving the community.
Michelle Phillips is a member of the Rotary Club of Conway and serves as treasurer of Bethlehem House, in addition to being a board member for Arkansas Community Foundation of Faulkner County, and a “subject matter expert” for the Conductor.
Shamim Okolloh
Encore Bank
Cathy Hastings Owen
Eagle Bank & Trust
Kathryn Pannell
Citizens Bank
Kim Pruitt
Centennial Bank
Stephanie Riffle
Stephanie Riffle
United Federal Credit Union
Stephanie Riffle has spent her entire life in Arkansas. She was born and raised in Hot Springs. She has called northwest Arkansas home the past nine years and has chosen to raise her twin daughters there, as well.
Stephanie Riffle started working in banking as a teller for Boatmen’s Boatmen’s National Bank of Arkansas in Little Rock. Nearly three decades later, she is now the regional vice president for United Federal Credit Union. The credit union’s philosophy of ‘people helping people’ is something that resonates with Stephanie Riffle. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County and is the chairperson for its resource and development committee, and she serves on the board of directors and finance committee for Saving Grace NWA, along with serving on the executive board of Arkansas Children’s Northwest Auxiliary.
Deb Sefcik
Deb Sefcik
First Community Bank
Deb Sefcik, a career banker, has more than 40 years providing top-notch service to individuals and businesses across Arkansas. Currently a senior vice president in commercial lending at First Community Bank, she learned banking from industry leaders in both community and metropolitan banking arenas. She has an associate’s degree in accounting, attended the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and completed numerous courses through the American Institute of Banking, an American Bankers Association affiliate. Together with a group of Arkansas bankers, Sefcik founded and was executive director of the Center for Financial Training.
Sefcik currently serves on the board of directors of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas, in addition to volunteering at its events and fundraisers. She founded and led West Village, a non-profit organization designed to revitalize businesses along the Rodney Parham corridor in West Little Rock.
Nancy Sims
Nancy Sims
Bank OZK
Nancy Sims is managing director of business banking at Bank OZK. A career banker with more than 30 years of experience, she joined the Bank OZK team in 2018 as a community banking business risk officer. Sims has also contributed to Bank OZK’s lending team as a strategic initiative manager and government-guaranteed lending sales manager. Given her deep industry expertise and unwavering commitment to providing exceptional customer service, Sims was recently appointed to lead the bank’s business banking team that provides financial tools and resources that empower small to mid-sized businesses and promote their sustained growth.
Shena Sims
Shena Sims
First Community Bank
Shena Sims is the senior vice president, regional deposit & operation director, at First Community Bank. While overseeing seven Jonesboro branche, she also assists the the financial organization with deposit strategy in an effort to foster growth. Sims has more than 24 years in the banking industry; she joined First Community Bank in 2014. She holds a bachelor’s in speech communication with a marketing minor from Arkansas State University. She actively participates in philanthropic initiatives such as United Way of Northeast Arkansas’ Day of Caring event, KAIT’s Gr8 Acts of Kindness initiative and First Community Bank’s Piggy Bank and Teach Children to Save programs.
Stephanie Sizemore
Commercial Bank and Trust Co.
Sandy Straessle
Sandy Straessle
Stone Bank
Sandy Straessle, executive vice president and chief retail banking officer for Stone Bank, is responsible for the sales and operations at all of Stone Bank’s branch locations and heading the bank’s training department. Prior to joining Stone Ban in 2016, she had 15 years of banking experience with Regions Bank in Little Rock, including as senior vice president of retail administration.
Straessle attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a graduate of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Arkansas Leadership Arkansas program. She also sits on the board of Junior Achievement of Arkansas. She recently completed the ABA-Wharton Leadership Lab Program and is a graduate of the 2022 Graduate School of Banking Sales & Marketing School. She currently serves as the program chair for Arkansas Women Executives and was recognized by Arkansas Money & Politics as a Power Woman in Banking in 2020 and 2021.
Robyn Staggs
Robyn Staggs
Bank of America
Robyn Staggs leads a team of specialists focused on understanding each clients’ unique needs to deliver strategic financial guidance and solutions. Robyn Staggs joined Bank of America in 2005 with ten years of banking experience analyzing and structuring credit for middle-market clients in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Robyn Staggs volunteers with several nonprofit organizations to help create a more sustainable future for the companies and communities she serves and is on the board of directors for the Samaritan Community Center. She is the market integration executive for Arkansas, serves on Bank of America’s volunteer network, is the Digital Champion for her region and participates in the virtual chapter of LEAD for Women.
Kendall Stubbs
Kendall Stubbs
Stone Bank
Kendall Stubbs is a Stone County native who has become an important community leader as Stone Bank assistant vice president and Mountain View branch manager. In her role as branch manager, she has led sales efforts which have resulted in a $30 million increase in deposits in her market.
Stubbs has a bachelor’s degree in business management and was recently recognized by the Arkansas Bankers Association as an emerging leader in the industry. She also was recently named to the Ozarka College Business Technology Advisory Council and leads a group in the bank called “Rock Stars,” who are responsible for keeping Stone Bank employees engaged at all levels of community service in Stone County.
Lorrie Trogden
Arkansas Bankers Association
Lorrie Trogden became the first female president of the Arkansas Bankers Association in 2018, and if you’ve ever met her, it’s clear to see how she got there. Self-described as dedicated, fiercely loyal and even a bit stubborn, Trogden doesn’t shy away from hard work – she tackles it head on. She embodies the idea of loving one’s career, and she takes pride in advocating on behalf of the banking industry to better protect institutions and their customers. Trogden backs up her confidence in the field with a compassion for others, and it is this balance that allows her to keep blazing a trail for other women in banking.
Kim Whedbee
Kim Whedbee
Kim Whedbee was promoted to mortgage president of Signature Bank of Arkansas in January of this year. Whedbee has been with Signature Bank since 2014 and previously served as mortgage underwriter and mortgage lender. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position, having worked in the banking industry for 26 years. Whedbee previously worked as a mortgage loan originator for First Security Bank, Bank of Arkansas and Arvest Bank.
Ashley Wiser
Chambers Bank
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