Forty Under 40: Loren K. Shackelford

From early on, Loren Shackelford, 35, has had an interest in banking. He opened a savings account at the age of five. So as a junior and senior at the University of Arkansas, he worked at The Bank of Fayetteville N.A., and then for a year-and-a-half after graduation.

There, the Fayetteville native said he learned how to work with a servant’s heart and how to run a community-focused bank from one of the best in the biz, John Lewis.

Then he decided he wanted to be a loan officer because it looked like fun, so he called on Gary Head, then president of McIlroy Bank & Trust Co. (now Arvest Bank-Fayetteville). He started with that bank in May 1995, eventually becoming a senior vice president and area loan manager.

In July of 2005, Shackelford left Arvest to help Head begin Signature Bank of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Helping to organize the startup is probably his greatest achievement to date, he said, but he’s also proud of helping to book $100 million in loans through Community First Bank of Harrison that eventually became Signature’s business while the bank was in organization.

“I love my job. I can’t imagine doing anything else for a living,” he said.