After 45 years of banking, Jerry Barton, city president of Sea Island Bank, is retiring with commercial lead manager Ken Rabitsch stepping up as his successor — the latest changing of the guard in the local banking world.
Since 1969, Barton has spent his banking career serving the Savannah market in various executive positions. He joined Sea Island Bank, a division of Synovus Bank, in 2004 when he led their expansion into the Savannah market.
“It’s been a productive 10 years with Jerry on our team, and we’re certainly going to miss his leadership in the market,” Darron Burnette, president of Sea Island Bank, said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have someone like Ken to lead our continued growth in the market.”
Rabitsch will take the reins from Barton on April 30, according to the release, bringing with him 21 years of experience with a concentration in commercial lending and business. Rabitsch has also been with Sea Island Bank since 2004.
Separately, the bank announced the appointment of Loretta Cockrum to its Savannah advisory board. Cockrum is founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based real estate and development firm Foram Group. The Foram Group owns and operates about 5,000 acres of development real estate in Chatham, Bryan and Liberty counties.
ABOUT SEA ISLAND BANK AND SYNOVUS
Sea Island Bank is a division of Synovus Bank, and operates in Metter, Statesboro and Savannah. This division offers financial products including business banking, investment services and mortgage lending.
Synovus is a financial services company based in Columbus, Ga., with approximately $26 billion in assets. Synovus’ divisions provide commercial and retail banking, investment, and mortgage services to customers through 28 locally branded divisions, 261 offices and 363 ATMs in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.