Brooks Named ?Woman to Watch?

Mary Beth Brooks, president and CEO of The Bank of Fayetteville has been named one of the “Top 25 Women to Watch” by U.S. Banker magazine.  

The list will be published in the Oct. 22 issue of the trade magazine and includes female bankers from across the country, such as Sallie Krawcheck, chairman and CEO of global wealth management for Citigroup, and Karen Peetz, CEO of corporate trust for The Bank of New York Mellon.

The magazine cites the BOF’s performance numbers and Brooks’ work toward making the bank more technologically savvy and its asset control as the reasons for her inclusion on the list.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as of June 30, BOF had $426.1 million in assets, up 17.5 percent from $362.4 million a year earlier.

The magazine said the bank’s net income was 35 percent greater than was projected for the first six months of 2007.

Net income was $3.18 million, up 44.5 percent from $2.20 million a year earlier.

The bank’s return on assets was 1.52 percent on June 30. The U.S. average for banks was 1.23 percent.

BOF opened on June 5, 1987, and during its first six months of operation made $18 million in loans. By December 1987 it had assets of $28 million.

One year later, the bank had $47 million in deposits and had made $32 million in loans.

Brooks is only the second person to serve as president and CEO for the bank and was hand-picked as a successor by founder John Lewis, who died June 1.