Equity Bancshares, the holding company of Equity Bank, hired Eric R. Newell as CFO. In addition, Gregory H. Kossover, who previously served as CFO, was named chief operating officer, and Craig L. Anderson was named president of Equity Bank.
“It’s a time of change in our industry, but I’m extremely pleased in the leadership, accomplishments and talent of our senior management team, including Greg and Craig,” Brad S. Elliott, chairman and CEO of Equity, said. “I’m excited to supplement our key leaders and welcome Eric, a talented financial leader with experience leading super-community banks and a great addition to our skilled leadership group.
“We believe that we are positioned to help our customers considerably during the years to come, as well as to continue our high standards of credit administration, innovations within our product and service delivery. We’ll continue to review merger opportunities based on culture and fit first, and I’m excited to have a leadership team with Greg, Craig and Eric that can help us continue to build on our success.”
Newell will join Equity today and assume CFO duties after the completion of the second quarter reporting period and following the filing of Equity’s second quarter 10-Q, after June 30, 2020. Kossover will work with Newell and assist in the transition over the next 90 days.
Newell previously served as CFO at United Bank, a subsidiary of United Financial Bancorp and a $7.3 billion community bank headquartered in Hartford, CT. He served in the role through completion of United’s merger into People’s United Financial. Newell was responsible for the oversight of financial and accounting management, internal and external financial reporting, interest rate risk management, liquidity management and capital management.
Kossover joined Equity Bank in 2013 as CFO after serving on the board of directors of Equity Bancshares, and was instrumental in Equity’s 2015 initial public offering as well as nine business combinations while leading Equity’s finance and accounting teams and serving as executive vice president. Kossover will continue with Equity’s senior leadership team and continue to serve on Equity’s board of directors. His new role will include leadership of the operations, credit, information technology and human resources teams.
Anderson joined Equity Bank in 2018 after serving as president of commercial banking and in leadership roles for more than 30 years, most recently at UMB Financial in Kansas City, MO. As president, Anderson will lead all commercial banking and sales efforts throughout Equity’s four states, including commercial lending, commercial banking, and Equity’s trust and wealth management division, which was launched in 2019.
“Greg has helped us build this company and scale it to what it is today, and his discipline, intelligence and work ethic have helped Equity more than double in asset size during the last seven years, and I’m eager to have his leadership over key areas, processes and departments,” Elliott said. “Craig is an outstanding commercial banker and has energized our sales teams, leaders and bankers throughout our footprint. We continue to strengthen our leadership team with bankers who embody entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to serving our customers.”
