Arvest Promotes Veteran Banker Don Walker To Regional Executive Position 

Arvest Bank on Monday announced that it has promoted veteran banker Don Walker to a new assignment as regional executive for the state’s largest banking institution, where he will work closely with a group of banks overseeing expansion opportunities, business plan execution, asset quality and budgeting.

Walker will return from Oklahoma to assume his new role as one of the bank’s three regional executive positions, company officials said. He will also be responsible for federal governmental relations for the fast-growing Arkansas banking giant.

“Don’s 30 years of exemplary service and experience as a bank president in three of our markets gives him unique insight and expertise that will prove invaluable to the local banks that he will be serving,” Arvest CEO Kevin Sabin said.

He has been in Tulsa since 1998 as president of Arvest Bank in Tulsa. Prior to 1998, he served as president of Arvest Banks in Bentonville and Siloam Springs.

In Tulsa, Walker oversaw one of the largest of Arvest’s 16 locally managed banks, with more than 500 employees working at 38 locations in 16 communities. Today, Arvest Bank operates more than 270 bank branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, each with its own board and management team.

Walker, who has been with the privately-held Arkansas bank for 37 years, said he was excited to come back to Arkansas where he began his career at as loan officer in 1978 in Bentonville after graduating from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

“While I grew to love Tulsa as my home, the fact that my family and my wife’s family live in Northwest Arkansas made this opportunity very special to me,” Walker said. “I’m especially excited to be returning and living in the same city as my daughter, her husband and my 4-year old grandson. The thought of getting to spend more time with him during his formative years made this impossible to pass up.”

Walker has served on the board of trustees at John Brown University in Siloam Springs for 18 years, including a stint as chairman. While in Tulsa, his community involvement included serving as chairman of the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce, and serving on the board of a number of other local charities, civic groups and government agencies. He also served on the board of the Oklahoma Bankers Association.

The longtime Arkansas banker and his wife, Sheroll, have one adult daughter, Jessica Walker Nohl; a son-in-law, Brent Nohl; and a 4-year-old grandson, Walker.