Copeland
BancorpSouth Inc. the parent company of BancorpSouth Bank, has named a longtime banking veteran, John G. Copeland, as senior executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer.
“We are pleased to have John Copeland join the BancorpSouth team,” said Dan Rollins, BancorpSouth’s chairman and CEO. “John’s experience as a CFO at two different publicly traded banks will serve our company well in driving change to expand our financial reporting systems and improve enterprise-wide efficiency.”
Copeland has more than 35 years of executive management experience with regional financial institutions in all aspects of accounting, financial reporting, investor relations, asset/liability management, mergers and acquisitions and budgeting.
“Having served as CFO of the former First United Bancshares of El Dorado, Arkansas, prior to the holding company’s merger with BancorpSouth in 2000, I am excited to have the opportunity to return to BancorpSouth,” said Copeland said.
Copeland was named CFO of First United Bancshares Inc. in March 1999 until October 2000. BancorpSouth, which announced its merger plans with First United in April 2000 completed its acquisition in August of that year.
Copeland replaces William L. “Bill” Prater, who retired from his post as BancorpSouth’s senior executive vice president, treasurer and CFO in March. Prater had held the posts for nearly eight years. Prater was named the company’s CFO in July 2009 following the retirement of Nash Allen Jr., who spent 40 years with the bank.
Copeland is a graduate of the University of Memphis with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Tennessee and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Before joining BancorpSouth, Copeland was CFO at Evolve Bank & Trust National Association in Arkansas, which he joined in April 2014.
He was with the former First M&F Corp., the parent company of First M&F Bank, from 2004-2013. Renasant Corp., the parent of Renasant Bank, acquired First M&F in 2013.
BancorpSouth Inc, with $14.9 billion in assets, is the parent financial holding company for BancorpSouth Bank, which operates 234 full service branch locations as well additional mortgage, insurance, and loan production offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in Illinois.