By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

Organizers hope to open the doors in mid-February for what will be, for a few months at least, Fayette County's only locally owned and managed bank.

The Bank of Georgia recently completed its initial stock sale, raising a whopping $11 million in 67 days, with most of the 350 or so investors being local businesses and customers.

The bank's headquarters, still under construction, will be a building on Ga. Highway 54 just east of Peachtree City, next to Ace Hardware. For now, the bank's organizers – president-CEO Pat Shepherd and executive vice presidents Mickey Godwin and Rick Duncan – have set up shop in a trailer next to the building.

Construction is about 30 days behind schedule, but the bank should be open the week of Feb. 14, Shepherd said.

The management team has a combined 70-plus years of experience, and all three worked previously for Fayette County Bank, which was acquired by Regions.

“We felt like there was a real need for a community bank — a local decision-maker,” said Shepherd of the decision to form the Bank of Georgia.

That name, which sounds like a statewide conglomerate, came about as a pleasant surprise, Shepherd said.

The group's original choice was First Southern Community Bank, which was too similar to another local bank now forming in Fayetteville. State officials informed Shepherd of this, then told him he could have “Bank of Georgia” if he wanted it. He happily said yes.

That name was used many years ago by another bank, but it reverted to the Secretary of State's office after a merger and was up for grabs as a result.

In addition to Shepherd, Godwin and Duncan, the bank's board of directors consists of Arlie Aukerman, Steve Black, Dale Geeslin, W. Robert Hancock Jr., Michael Rossetti, Donnie Russell, Tom Sellmer, Rick Stanziale, and James Webb Jr.

Stanziale, of Amacor in Tyrone, will serve as chairman of the board, with Black, of Pathway Communities, serving as vice chairman.

The 12 board members invested a combined $3.35 million, nearly $300,000 apiece, during the stock sale. That says something about their commitment to the institution's success, Shepherd said.

“This is a highly regulated industry, and there is some personal liability involved with being a board member,” he said. “We are fortunate to have a great, diverse group of guys.”

The state required a minimum of $7.5 million to be raised in the stock sale, which was surpassed with ease. More than $1 million was turned away, because the state also sets a maximum, Shepherd said.

Most of the investors were found through word-of-mouth, as each of the directors turned in lists of prospects and the management team drew upon its pool of large customer bases.

A total of 14 employees will staff the bank, including the three top positions, and all but three of those spots have been filled.

A low-key opening is the plan for February, to make certain any potential problems are spotted and ironed out, and a more festive grand-opening announcement is planned for when the weather improves.