VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Oct. 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Myles Gaythwaite has joined Gateway Bank & Trust Co., a subsidiary of Gateway Financial Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:GBTS), as senior executive vice president and chief retail banking officer, announced D. Ben Berry, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gateway Financial. A veteran banker with more than 35 years of financial services experience, Gaythwaite will manage the bank's retail banking activities and will be responsible for training, marketing, and product development.
"As Gateway continues to expand in both North Carolina and Virginia," Berry said, "it is increasingly important that we focus on the productivity and efficiency of each of our financial centers and that we sharpen our overall retail strategy. Mr. Gaythwaite's extensive knowledge of retail banking, as well as experience with successful pricing models in the financial services industry, will be invaluable."
Gaythwaite joins Gateway Bank from John H. Harland Company (Harland) where he served as director of organizational readiness. In this role, he focused on improving clients' marketing, human resource, operations and business process performance through the assessment, development, and ongoing measurement of client organizational skill sets, business processes, and compensation programs. Prior to joining Harland, he held a number of senior leadership and consulting roles in the financial services industry, including serving as executive vice president of consumer financial services for Union Bancshares Corporation, a $2 billion in assets bank headquartered in Bowling Green, VA, and as president of Peoples Financial Services, a diversified financial services company involved in banking, securities, insurance, and trust services.
Gaythwaite graduated from Washington & Jefferson College, attended St. John's University School of Law, and Pace University Graduate School where he majored in marketing. He also is a graduate of the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Banking.
As part of his responsibilities at Gateway Bank & Trust, Gaythwaite will serve as vice chairman of the bank's Asset-Liability Management Committee and will chair the Pricing Committee.
Berry further commented on Gaythwaite's role saying, "In less than ten years, Gateway Bank & Trust Co. has experienced a great deal of success. With Myles in place, we expect even greater levels of success through organic growth as Gateway becomes the fine-tuned sales organization that we are poised to become. With a focus on appropriate pricing strategies and on the creation of new products that increase low-cost core deposits, our plan is for increased profitability from our network of financial centers across Virginia and North Carolina."
Gaythwaite will have offices in Virginia Beach, VA, Richmond, VA, Raleigh, NC, and at Gateway's Operations Center in Elizabeth City, NC.
About the Company
Gateway Financial Holdings, Inc., a $1.7 billion in assets company as of June 30, 2007, is the parent company of Gateway Bank & Trust Co., a regional community bank with thirty-one full-service financial centers - nineteen in Virginia: Virginia Beach (7), Richmond (6), Chesapeake (3), Suffolk, Norfolk and Emporia; and twelve in North Carolina: Elizabeth City (3), Edenton, Kitty Hawk (2), Moyock, Nags Head, Plymouth, Roper and Raleigh (2), and a private banking center in Raleigh. The Bank provides insurance through its Gateway Insurance Services, Inc. subsidiary, brokerage services through its Gateway Investment Services, Inc. subsidiary, and mortgage banking services through its Gateway Bank Mortgage, Inc. subsidiary. The common stock of the Corporation is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol GBTS. For further information, visit the Corporation's web site at www.gwfh.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this news release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Amounts herein could vary as a result of market and other factors. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, factors discussed in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Such forward- looking statements may be identified by the use of such words as "believe," "expect," anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," and "potential." Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in management or their duties, estimates with respect to the financial condition, expected or anticipated revenue, results of operations and business of the Company that are subject to various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from these estimates. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions; changes in interest rates, deposit flows, loan demand, real estate values, and competition; changes in accounting principles, policies, or guidelines; changes in legislation or regulation; and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting the Company's operations, pricing, products and services. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or clarify forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise