Darrin Williams

By Katie Zakrzewski and Mark Carter Former Arkansas House Speaker Pro-Tem Darrin Williams became CEO of Southern Bancorp in 2013 after a six-year stint in the state legislature and a run as managing partner at the Carney, Williams, Bates, Pulliam…

Southern Bancorp Inc. is set to acquire DeWitt First Bankshares Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary Arkansas County Bank as part of a merger agreement. Founded in 1912, Arkansas County Bank services Arkansas,  Prairie, Lonoke, Sevier, Little River, and Howard counties,…

Thomas “Hunter” Deweese has been tapped to serve as the Small Business Administration (SBA) president for Southern Bancorp. Most recently, Deweese served as the senior SBA agricultural lending officer for Southern Bancorp, a Community Development Financial Institution. He joined Southern…

Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams has been named to the 2020 Bloomberg 50. This annual list highlights prominent leaders across multiple fields, from finance to politics and from entertainment to technology. According to Bloomberg’s website, the fourth-annual Bloomberg 50 list…

Multiple Arkansans have been appointed to serve on the “Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups.” These groups have been assembled to help “chart the path forward toward a future of unparalleled American prosperity,” according to a White House release. The…

by Becky Gillette As a state made up primarily of rural communities, Arkansas should be concerned about the declining number of bank branches, says Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams.   “At Southern, a rural-focused, mission-driven financial institution, we’ve actually been focused…