SmartFinancial, Inc. Appoints Ottis Phillips as Director
March 02, 2020 at 09:23 am EST
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On March 1, 2020, SmartFinancial, Inc. (SmartFinancial), completed its previously announced acquisition of Progressive Financial Group, Inc. (Progressive), pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated October 29, 2019, by and between SmartFinancial and Progressive. On the Effective Date, Progressive merged with and into SmartFinancial, with SmartFinancial continuing as the surviving corporation. Immediately following the Merger, Progressive Savings Bank, a Tennessee-chartered commercial bank and wholly owned subsidiary of Progressive, merged with and into SmartBank, a Tennessee-chartered commercial bank and wholly owned subsidiary of SmartFinancial, with SmartBank continuing as the surviving banking corporation. On February 27, 2020, the Board of Directors of SmartFinancial, acting pursuant to the authority granted to it by SmartFinancial’s Bylaws, increased the size of the Board of Directors from twelve to thirteen directors, effective as of the closing of the Merger. Also on February 27, 2020, the Board of Directors appointed Ottis Phillips as a director of SmartFinancial, effective as of the closing of the Merger. Mr. Phillips is an independent director who will serve with a term expiring at SmartFinancial’s 2020 annual meeting of shareholders. Ottis Phillips, age 68, is the former Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of Progressive and Progressive Savings Bank. He served on the boards of directors of Progressive and Progressive Savings Bank from 2016 until the Merger, and served as the President and CEO of Progressive and Progressive Savings Bank from 2018 until the Merger.
SmartFinancial, Inc. is the bank holding company for SmartBank (the Bank). The Bank is a full-service commercial bank with branches across Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. The principal business of the Bank consists of attracting deposits from the general public and investing those funds, together with funds generated from operations and from principal and interest payments on loans, primarily in commercial loans, commercial and residential real estate loans, leases, consumer loans and residential and commercial construction loans. It also originates one to four family residential mortgage loans and generally enters into a commitment to sell these loans in the secondary market. SBK Insurance, Inc., a subsidiary of the Bank, provides insurance products in the property and casualty area, commercial, transportation, and life and health to their respective clients. The Bank provides a suite of commercial and consumer banking services to clients through about 42 full-service bank branches.