PlainsCapital Bank added three new executives recently, including a Coastal Bend region chair and two branch presidents.
Gary Wilson joins PlainsCapital as the Coastal Bend region chair with more then 35 years experience in the banking and financial services industries. He will take over market development and management for the entire Coastal Bend region, with a primary focus on the Corpus Christi, Victoria and Alice markets.
Wilson served as Corpus Christi market president for BBVA Compass (formerly Texas State Bank) for 12 years before making the move to PlainsCapital. A graduate of Texas State University and Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University, Wilson is active in his local community, serving as a board member for the Food Bank of Corpus Christi and past president of the Driscoll Children’s Hospital Foundation. He is a past director of Montgomery County United Way and past president of the Brownsville Boys Club.
The first of two new bank presidents, David Barnhart, will take over the PlainsCapital Bank Victoria Branch. With more than 30 years experience in the banking industry, Barnhart will be responsible for the start up, management and growth of the Victoria market, as well as cultivating profitable relationships and growing revenue for the bank.
Barnhart has served in several executive banking jobs in the South Texas and Coastal Bend regions. He has a degree from Sam Houston State University and has served as a board member for Avance of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, Hope of South Texas, Mission 911, Aransas County Education Foundation, Texas Maritime Museum, The Museum of the Coastal Bend and Workforce Network Inc.
The Alice branch of PlainsCapital welcomed Mark A. Esparza as its new president recently. Esparza specializes in commercial lending and will be responsible for the day-to-day bank operations. He served as vice president and bank manager at First Community Bank in Corpus Christi before this move. A graduate of Texas A&M University, he is also a Texas Bankers Association Management Developoment Program graduate. He is currently a Six Points Kiwanis member and Knights of Columbus council member.
PlainsCapital Bank was founded in 1988 by current Chairman and CEO Alan B. White and a group of young bankers who wanted to bring “relationship banking” to their hometown of Lubbock, Texas. They started with Plains National Bank, a Lubbock financial institution with one branch and $198.8 million. Twenty-five years later, PlainsCapital Bank is the fifth-largest bank in Texas, based on deposit market share.
The bank prides itself on community involvement. In 2013, it supported more than 350 organizations in the communities where its 80 branches reside, including Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Edinburg, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, McAllen, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley.
“PlainsCapital is committed to improving the quality of life in the communities where we live and work,” reads a company statement on its website.
