TowneBank announces three promotions

TowneBank has promoted two presidents to new roles and appointed a president for its new region, the Suffolk-based bank announced Monday.

Robin Cooke now serves as the president of retail banking. She was formerly president of the bank’s Portsmouth/Suffolk region, a role that C. Ross Morgan will fill in addition to maintaining his current role as president of TowneBank’s Real Estate Finance Group.

TowneBank’s $56 million acquisition of Windsor-based Farmers Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Farmers Bank, closed in January. Once the Farmers Bank division moves under the TowneBank name in April, Thomas Woodward will become president of the bank’s new Suffolk and Western Tidewater region. Woodward is currently an executive vice president and the chief lending officer for Farmers Bank.

In her new role, Cooke will have executive oversight over TowneBank branch offices and will oversee the bank’s overall retail strategy.  She is a founding employee of TowneBank. Cooke holds a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University and serves on the boards of the Bon Secours Hampton Roads Foundation and Access College Foundation.

“Robin has been part of our family since day one,” TowneBank Chief Experience Officer Dawn Glynn said in a statement. “She has an innate understanding of the TowneBank culture of caring and commitment to delivering exquisite service.”

Cooke’s successor, Morgan, joined TowneBank in 1999 and served as senior credit officer for Chesapeake before becoming president of the Real Estate Finance Group. Morgan has a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University and serves on the boards of the Coastal Virginia Building Industry Association and Chesapeake Regional Health Foundation.

“Ross brings a proven acumen for making sound credit decisions to his new leadership position,” Brian Skinner, TowneBank president and regional banking director for Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, said in a statement. “Above all, he considers his members to be his most important asset.”

In Woodward’s new role, he will lead commercial and retail banking teams in the city of Suffolk and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties. He joined Farmers Bank in 2005 and is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the Virginia Bankers Association’s Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management and the American Bankers Association’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He serves on the boards of Meals on Wheels of Suffolk & Isle of Wight and the Obici Healthcare Foundation.

“Thomas is well-known to our Farmers Bank family, and we are excited to have his guidance as we introduce TowneBank to expanded areas in Hampton Roads,” TowneBank Executive Chairman G. Robert Aston Jr. said in a statement.

Founded in 1999, TowneBank now has more than 45 banking offices — eight of which operate as Farmers Bank, a Division of TowneBank — throughout Hampton Roads and Central Virginia and in North Carolina. As of Dec. 31, 2022, TowneBank had total assets of $15.85 billion.