FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., June 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- White River Bancshares Company (OTCQX: WRIV), (the “Company”) the holding company for Signature Bank of Arkansas (the “Bank”), today announced the hiring of Edward (“Ed”) P. Riendeau as its new Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Russell W. Nugent, Jr., who recently announced his retirement.  

“We are delighted to have Ed join our executive management team as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President,” said Gary Head, President and Chief Executive Officer.  “Ed brings over 20 years of demonstrated leadership and comprehensive accounting and audit experience.  As a member of the Bank’s executive team, Ed will be responsible for overseeing all of the finance and accounting activities for the organization while providing and supporting strong strategic leadership.  He is a CPA with a diverse industry knowledge and is respected for his integrity and strong work ethic.”

Edward P. Riendeau is a 1996 graduate of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville with a BBA in Accounting.  He is an active Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Florida (2010). Riendeau’s background is diverse, including small private and large public companies in various industries which includes public accounting, retail, distribution and marketing. Since moving to Northwest Arkansas in 2008, he worked for Walmart in both finance and internal audit functions.  Riendeau later became the Senior Vice President of Infrastructure and the Finance leader at Collective Bias, where he contributed to continuous growth and eventual sale.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank Russell for his 13 years of dedicated and loyal service,” commented Head.  “Russell has been a valued member of our executive management team and has provided our company with tremendous knowledge and strategic financial expertise.  We wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement.” 

About White River Bancshares Company

White River Bancshares Company is the single bank holding company for Signature Bank of Arkansas.  Both are headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The Bank has locations in Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, Rogers and Brinkley, Arkansas.  Founded in 2005, Signature Bank of Arkansas provides a full line of financial services to small businesses, families and farms.  White River Bancshares Company (OTCQX: WRIV), qualified to trade on the OTCQX® Best Market in December 2018.  

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements about future events.  These forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions of management of the Company and the Bank and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “believe,” “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” or similar expressions or the negative of those terms.  Our ability to predict results of future events and the actual effect of future plans or strategies are inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements.  Factors that could have a material adverse effect on our operations and future prospects or that could affect the outcome of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in interest rates; the economic health of the local real estate market; general economic conditions; credit deterioration in our loan portfolio that would cause us to increase our allowance for loan losses; legislative or regulatory changes; technological developments; monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, including policies of the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board; the quality or composition of our loan and securities portfolios; demand for loan products in our market areas; deposit flows and costs of capital; competition; retention and recruitment of qualified personnel; demand for financial services in our market areas; and changes in accounting principles, policies, and guidelines.  These risks and uncertainties should be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. The Company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.