Arvest Bank is moving a longtime employee into its top Benton County position.
Craig Rivaldo has worked for Arvest more than 27 years, and will take over as president and chief executive officer of Arvest Bank of Benton County on May 1. He moves from the same position at Arvest Fort Smith.
Arvest Bank operates more than 260 bank branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas through a network of 16 locally managed banks, each with its own board and management team. Benton County is the largest division with 28 locations in 13 communities and more than 400 employees.
Rivaldo replaces H. Dennis Smiley Jr. who resigned suddenly March 13 as president and chief executive officer of Arvest Bank of Benton County.
Jason Kincy, Arvest spokesman, has said Smiley's reasons for resigning were personal in nature and wouldn't comment further.
The bank filed a motion in Benton County Circuit Court on April 2 stating Smiley pledged his Arvest stock options as collateral on loans from as many as 19 banks. The filing states the stock wasn't to be used that way.
Arvest is asking the court to hold $551,755 in stock options and decide who gets the money.
Delta Trust & Bank filed a lawsuit against Smiley on March 25 claiming he defaulted on the initial payment of a $245,126 loan. The filing shows Smiley used his Arvest Bank stock as collateral.
Rivaldo began his career with Arvest as a trainee with McIlroy Bank in Fayetteville in 1987. In 1999 he was one of the original employees who started Arvest's Fort Smith operations and was named president and chief executive officer in 2010.
He's a graduate of Northside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University and the National Commercial Lending School at the University of Oklahoma.
Arvest is searching for a new president for Fort Smith operations.
NW News on 04/09/2014