Farmers & Merchants Bank, Bank of Fayetteville promotes 3 leaders to directors

Stuttgart-based The Farmers & Merchants Bank and The Bank of Fayetteville announced Thursday (Jan. 22) the promotions of three senior leaders to companywide director roles.

Tyler Spoon has been named director of private banking, Micheal Dickson has been named director of portfolio profitability, and Kyle Pattillo has been named director of credit quality and underwriting.

Spoon, of Fayetteville, has served as community president for the Fayetteville region and will step away from the role to join the company’s private banking leadership team.

Jayson Krisell will succeed Spoon as community president for the Fayetteville region. Krisell joined the bank in April and was a private banking loan officer at The Bank of Fayetteville’s main branch on the Fayetteville Square.

In his new role, Spoon will lead the bank’s private banking strategy and work with high-net-worth people, families, and business owners on complex financial needs across the company. He will focus on custom financial services and long-term relationship management for clients whose personal and professional financial needs exceed traditional banking services.

Spoon joined The Farmers & Merchants Bank in October 2023 as a commercial loan officer after retiring from Major League Baseball in 2018. He played for the Boston Red Sox and the Arkansas Razorbacks. He joined the bank with more than 10 years of banking experience, including work as a mortgage loan officer. He was promoted to community president for the Fayetteville region in January 2025.

Dickson, of Pocahontas (Randolph County), has served as Pocahontas market president since joining The Farmers & Merchants Bank in 2019. In his new role, he will focus on building “a healthy, disciplined loan portfolio,” according to a news release. He will also remain Pocahontas market president.

Dickson has nearly three decades of banking and regulatory experience, including as a senior bank examiner with the Arkansas State Bank Department, vice president and compliance officer at Pocahontas Federal Savings and Loan, market president at First Community Bank in Imboden (Lawrence County), and senior vice president and commercial loan officer at Integrity First Bank.

The Imboden native earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Arkansas State University and completed the Barrett Graduate School of Banking.

Pattillo, of Fayetteville, has served as community president for Springdale and Bentonville. In his new role, he will oversee underwriting standards, credit processes and loan approval across all markets while continuing to support relationship development throughout Northwest Arkansas. He works in the Springdale Loan Production Office.

A Stuttgart native, Pattillo joined The Farmers & Merchants Bank and The Bank of Fayetteville in January 2017 as a commercial loan officer after nearly two decades in real estate brokerage, appraisal and development. His background includes leadership roles at Lindsey & Associates, where he served as executive broker, and extensive experience in commercial real estate and valuation.

Pattillo earned a finance degree from the University of Arkansas and is a graduate of the Southwest Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., The Farmers & Merchants Bank has total assets of $1.95 billion. It has 26 locations throughout Arkansas, including eight operating as The Bank of Fayetteville.