Forty Under 40: Mark Allan Gilbert

A Hope native, Mark Gilbert used to deliver watermelons with his father in the summertime. Those days helped him understand how to develop relation-ships and communicate with people, he said.

But it was his mother who instilled the competitive spirit. She was so persistent she broke her arm while playing basketball with him and other kids.

During college Gilbert worked with the First National Bank in Springdale as a teller. He graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s in business and financial management, and by 1998, he was expanding FNB’s full-service brokerage.

He remained with FNB through its acquisition by Searcy-chartered First Security Bank and he worked with Crews & Associates (an FSB subsidiary) from 2004 through part of 2005.

He began with Smith Barney in March 2005 and oversees about $150 million in assets. The office is now located within Legacy National Bank in Springdale.

Gilbert’s hobbies include anything that will push him to win, he said.

“I enjoy the pressure to deliver,” he said. “I would advise young brokers that you are not going to make it overnight and to manage your time wisely at work so you can spend time with your family, because that is what is most important.”