Three days have passed since the resignations of two banking center presidents in Columbus and Starkville, but Cadence Bank officials remain tight-lipped on the management shakeup.
Chief Administrative Officer Mark Abernathy issued a statement Friday characterizing the departures of Columbus branch president Jim McAlexander and Starkville branch president Marcus Mallory as the impetus behind the “management realignment.”
The resignations came on the heels of more bad news from Cadence. Earlier last week, Abernathy announced the layoffs of 17 Starkville employees as the bank shifts its loan operations department to Birmingham.
When asked to explain the sudden change of leadership, Cadence Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Peterson referred to Abernathy’s press statement, which did not detail why the two men left or whether there would be similar changes at other branches.
Peterson, along with Danielle Kernell, vice president of marketing communications, also declined to answer whether the resignations were prompted by the Starkville layoffs.
“We typically do not grant interviews when dealing with these sorts of issues due to the sensitivities,” Kernell wrote in an email to the Dispatch on Monday afternoon.
McAlexander and Mallory had worked more than a decade in various roles at their respective branches — the former for 13 years and the latter for 15 years. They were immediately replaced through in-house promotions.
Doug Robertson, who has been with the Columbus branch more than 32 years, will take McAlexander’s place, and Mike Cayson — a 15-year veteran of the company — will lead the Starkville branch.
Neither McAlexander nor Mallory could be reached for comment.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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