By Leslie N. Dees
“It’s going great,” Thomas Pound said of his new job at Merchants & Farmers Bank.
Pound, who served as a commercial lender for the last seven years with M&F;, was recently promoted to president of the Kosciusko offices.
“We have a great staff and great customers,” Pound said. “It has been a smooth transition.”
Mark Jordan had been serving as president and has now assumed the president’s role for the M&F; Jackson operation.
“Kosciusko is the flag ship of M&F; and we are certain that Thomas Pound is well suited in leading M&F; in our home base,” Hugh Potts Jr., M&F; Bank chairman and CEO, said.
In his new role, Pound said he is in charge of meeting the companies goals as well as having more interaction with the customers. He will oversee all banking aspects of the branch including business development, lending and retail.
While not a native of Kosciusko, Pound considers it his “new hometown.”
Pound said he was primarily raised in the Jackson area and he and his family were living in that area when he was hired as a commercial lender but the move to Kosciusko seemed natural.
Living in Kosciusko has been great for his family, Pound said.
His wife, Margaret Claire, is a native of Kosciusko and their daughter, Caroline, doesn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to live in the small town.
He said he and his family have been busier than they ever were in Jackson.
The Pound family spends their time with friends and family and attending sporting events at Kosciusko High School, where his daughter is in the ninth grade.
“I feel like I grew up here,” Pound said.
Pound is a graduate of Belhaven College and has 19 years of banking experience.
“Thomas has honed his banking skills by serving an expanding customer base and furthering his professional education,” Potts said. “Thomas has an excellent team with whom to work.”
Pound and his family are active in First Presbyterian Church.
He is on the Kosciusko Tourism Council, and is currently chairman of The Kosciusko Heritage Foundation.
First M&F; Corporation, headquartered in Kosciusko, Mississippi, is a full service provider of banking, trust, securities brokerage and insurance products and services. M&F; has $1.6 billion in assets and is one of the ten largest banks in the state. First M&F; Corporation has 50 offices and nine insurance agency locations serving customers throughout Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. M&F; is a publicly held company and is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol FMFC.
