An Augusta native now has the No. 2 job at Georgia's second-largest bank.
Kessel D. Stelling Jr., 53, was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Synovus Financial Corp. on Monday.
Stelling began his banking career in 1973 at Georgia Railroad Bank in Augusta, working in the printing department while in high school. He is the son of Kessel Stelling Sr., who served as Augusta comptroller for 30 years.
"I look forward to working with the exceptional team at Synovus to continue to build a strong company that brings value to customers," Stelling said.
Stelling served as Synovus' Atlanta market regional chief executive.
In his new role, Stelling will oversee the company's day-to-day banking operations and lead its commercial banking efforts. Stelling's immediate focus will be leading the recently announced charter consolidation. Synovus will restructure this year to consolidate 30 separate banking charters into one.
"With deep roots in Georgia and long-standing relationships with regulators and other key state officials, Kessel is one of the most highly-respected bankers in the state and is well-known as a visionary leader in the banking industry," said Richard Anthony, Synovus chairman and CEO.
Stelling founded Riverside Bank in Atlanta in 1996 and guided its integration into Synovus 10 years later. After the merging of Riverside and Bank of North Georgia in 2006, Stelling was asked to lead the combined banks as president and CEO. He was promoted to Synovus Regional CEO for the Atlanta market in June 2008.
Stelling is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.
Synovus, based in Columbus, Ga., operates the two-branch AFB&T in the Augusta area, which is 12th in market share with $129 million in deposits.
The financial services holding company has $33 billion in assets and has 330 offices in five Southeastern states.
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