Financial services veteran James R. Gordon has been named chief financial officer of FirstBank, effective Jan. 1, 2016, the company announced Tuesday.
Winnie Bunch, CFO for the past 20 years, is moving into a newly created position as chief financial officer for FirstBank Ventures, which operates FirstBank Mortgage, FirstBank Investments and FirstBank Insurance.
FirstBank President and CEO Chris Holmes says the moves reflect the growth experienced in banking and mortgage operations across the bank’s footprint in the Southeast.
“It became necessary for us to expand our executive team, and we are fortunate to be able to attract someone with the experience and talent of James Gordon to take over as FirstBank CFO," said Mr. Holmes. "He is a great addition to our executive management team and, importantly, a great fit with our corporate culture. We are also fortunate that Winnie will be leading the financial team at FirstBank Ventures. She has done a tremendous job in helping us manage our growth, and she is the perfect person to take over this new role.”
Mr. Gordon’s career includes 25 years of diversified accounting experience, both in public accounting and in the private sector. Previously, he was a partner with the international accounting firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers and BDO. He most recently was the partner in charge of Horne LLP’s Memphis office. Horne has offices throughout the Southeast and Colorado, including Nashville, Memphis and Jackson, Tenn.
Mr. Gordon also served on the executive management teams of three separate financial institutions in the Southeast. He was chief risk officer at Union Planters Bank and chief accounting officer at National Commerce Financial Corp., the holding company of National Bank of Commerce, both in Memphis; and was chief financial officer for Greenville, South Carolina-based The South Financial Group.
Mr. Holmes and Mr. Gordon worked together at National Commerce Financial and later at The South Financial Group, where Mr. Holmes served as director of corporate financial services and chief retail banking officer prior to joining FirstBank in 2010.
An Oxford, Miss., native, Mr. Gordon is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the Barret Graduate School of Banking and is a certified public accountant in Tennessee. As CFO, Mr. Gordon will be based in Nashville and will oversee FirstBank’s finance and accounting division as well as the bank’s asset and liability management.
Bunch, a native of Lexington, Tenn., joined FirstBank in 1993 as accountant and director of internal audit and was named CFO in 1995. Prior to joining FirstBank, the 1984 graduate of the University of Tennessee worked as a public accountant in Atlanta and as fiscal director for two large nonprofit agencies in Jackson, Tenn.