Arkansas Bankers Association announces new leaders

The Arkansas Bankers Association recently announced their new slate of officers for 2025-2026 at the 135th Arkansas Bankers Association Annual Convention.

The new officers include:

Chairman: Chris Gosnell, Farmers Bank & Trust Co., Magnolia
Chairman-Elect: Jason Tennant, CS Bank, Eureka Springs
Vice Chairman: Jeff Lynch, Eagle & Trust, Little Rock
Treasurer: Jay Wisener, First National Bankers Bank, Little Rock

Gosnell joined Farmers Bank & Trust in 2010 and was elected president and CEO in 2017. Gosnell received a bachelor’s degree in administrative management from the University of Arkansas in 2003, as well as a master’s degree in operations management in 2005. He also graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, Leadership Arkansas, and the FBI Citizens Academy.

Tennant has served at various financial institutions across the state. He began his career at Union National Bank of Arkansas in Little Rock from 1985 to 1990. Subsequently, he joined the Arvest Bank Group, where he served in Fayetteville, Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge, and Berryville from 1990 to 2001. He continued his career in banking as a member of the First National Bank of North Arkansas (now Bank of 1889) in Berryville from 2001 to 2012. Since 2012 he has served at CS Bank.

Lynch brings more than four decades of banking experience to his new role, having held leadership positions across Arkansas’s financial sector. He has served as president and CEO of Eagle Bank & Trust since 2009 and previously led United Bank in Springdale from 2001 to 2008. His career began in 1984 as a teller and new accounts representative and quickly progressed through lending and management roles at institutions including Bank of America, Arvest Bank, and First Community Bank.

Wisener serves as the Arkansas Regional Market president for First National Bankers Bank. He has served on the bank’s executive loan committee and management team for over seven years and has been with FNBB for over eleven years. Starting his banking career as an examiner for the state of Arkansas, Wisener has spent over 32 years in the industry. He served as executive vice president of Arkansas Capital Corporation overseeing a number of areas related to small business lending and other entrepreneurial endeavors.