Manry Fills Gibson?s NW Bank of America Post

Bank of America has a new pointman in northwest Arkansas.

Larry A. Manry today was named president of the publicly traded bank’s northwest Arkansas operations. He replaces longtime banking leader Don Gibson, who has moved to Little Rock to serve as Bank of America’s statewide president.

Since 1997, Manry has headed up the northwest Arkansas division’s commercial lending operations. He’s been with Bank of America and its local predecessors since 1985 and is involved in numerous local civic organizations.

Manry said the northwest Arkansas division will continue focusing on delivering innovations to the local market. He said although Bank of America is the nation’s largest single bank. attention to personal service is still a priority.

And from a retail standpoint, Manry said, northwest Arkansas is an especially good market for the company because of all the business travel to the area. He said with 14,000 ATMs nationwide, people can transact business almost anywhere “just as if they were home.”

Gibson has served as an executive with the company’s private banking division for more than a year. He said the newly added responsibility of being state president has challenged him to help “make banking better than ever for each customer” in all of the firm’s Arkansas markets.

Gibson replaced Gary Smith, who resigned to buy a Little Rock commerical glass company, Glass Erectors Inc.

“My job now is to offer moral support and be a cheerleader for the bank,” Gibson said. “As far as the change in northwest Arkansas, I told [Manry] to just keep doing what he’s been doing. He’s a fine man and is involved internally and externally in what we’re doing up there.”

Manry and his wife, Janice, have two grown children named Jennifer and James.