Park Sterling, the holding company for Park Sterling Bank, announced it is entering the Virginia market with the hiring a seasoned commercial banking team based in the Greater Richmond region.

Rob Leitch, who was most recently a regional commercial banking manager at StellarOne Bank, joins Park Sterling as group senior vice president and head of Central Virginia Commercial Banking.

Leitch previously spent over 30 years in various banking roles at SunTrust Bank and its Richmond predecessors.

Tom Zachry, who was most recently a senior vice president and commercial relationship manager at StellarOne Bank, joins Park Sterling as senior vice president and senior commercial banker.

Zachry previously spent nearly 15 years with SunTrust Bank in Richmond.

Bobby Cowgill, who was most recently a senior vice president and commercial real estate relationship manager at StellarOne Bank, joins Park Sterling as senior vice president and Central Virginia Real Estate executive.

Cowgill spent nearly a decade at Regions Bank prior to joining StellarOne.

“We are also very excited to have Rob Leitch, Tom Zachry and Bobby Cowgill joining Park Sterling to establish our first commercial banking presence in Virginia,” said James C. Cherry, CEO. “These seasoned bankers are well known to the Park Sterling management team and position our company to compete in the attractive Central Virginia market.”