Arkansas Bank Department hires seven, promotes two

The Arkansas State Bank Department recently hired six new bank examiners and one new administrative staff member. In addition, the department also promoted two employees.

The new hires include:

• Grant Staton, a commercial examiner in the Jonesboro office, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and management from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
• John “Patrick” Saffold, a commercial examiner in the Jonesboro office, earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
• Bradley “Brad” Chu, a commercial examiner in the Little Rock office, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
• Jonathan Cook, a commercial examiner in the Little Rock office, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, and has over 14 years of banking and finance-related work experience.
• Natalie Young, a commercial examiner in the Little Rock office, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
• David “Brent” Pilkington, an information systems examiner in the Little Rock office, earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and has over 10 years of professional IT-related experience.
• Aspen Madsen, a member of the Bank Department’s administrative support team in the Little Rock office, has professional experience providing customer assistance for an answering service provider, as well as bank teller and deposit operations experience in a state-chartered institution.

The two Arkansas State Bank Department employees promoted are:

• John Householder was promoted from certified examinations manager to assistant deputy commissioner. He has served in the Bank Department for over 27 years and is currently responsible for special projects and overseeing the department’s IT steering committee. A certified fraud examiner assigned to the Jonesboro office, Householder earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Williams Baptist College.
• Krystal Smith was promoted from administrative specialist to administrative analyst. Since joining the State Bank Department in August 2023, Smith has provided administrative support to the training division in our Little Rock office. In her new role, Smith will continue providing administrative support to the department. Smith earned an associate of science degree from Pulaski Technical College in Little Rock.