Meet the Employees from Recently Merged Central Bank

After much anticipation, the merger between FFBT and Central Bank was completed on Friday December 4, 2009. The offices of Central Bank in Russiaville and Kokomo have become branches of First Farmers Bank & Trust. This merge combines two of the oldest community banks in Central Indiana.

Now that things have slowed down a bit, we wanted to share some information about each employee to let you know a little more about them.

 

Dirk Webster is a lifelong resident of Howard County. He started his career at Central Bank in 1992 as a summer intern teller. Upon graduation from Indiana University in Bloomington, he joined the bank full time. He has held the positions of New Accounts Rep, Auditor, Security Officer, and Mortgage Loan Officer. Dirk is now the branch manager and mortgage loan officer of Kokomo Central.

 

 

 

Don Smith previously served as President and CEO of Central Bank and has been with Central Bank for 22 years. He is a graduate of Ball State University where he received a degree in Business Education. He resides in Kokomo with his wife Karen and they have three children: Ilia, Reid, and Carleton. He is currently working as Vice President and Business Development Officer and works out of the Kokomo Central location of FFBT.

 

 

Judy Brown began working for Central Bank in 1976 as a teller and worked in this area until 1984 when she started working on the loan side of the bank and worked in several capacities. She was responsible for setting up the Credit Card Program for Central Bank and was also, at intervals, responsible for taking employment applications and interviewing those applicants. During the past several years, she also spent a lot of time upgrading loan policies and procedures and implementing a grading program. She is now located at the Kokomo Central office of FFBT as Vice President & Commercial Loan Officer.

 

 Linda Clark is a native of Howard County and was born and raised on a farm in Taylor Township. She started her banking career in 1978 at Central Bank. She now works at the Kokomo Central office of FFBT as Assistant Compliance Officer and is also working in the Internal Audit area.

Ginny Etherington started working for Central Bank 34 years ago as a part-time teller. She has held several positions throughout her career at Central Bank including Secretary for the President and Loan Department, Assistant Cashier, Loan Officer, and Human Resources Officer. She is currently working at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT as Loan Administrative Assistant.

Julie Jones began working at Central Bank in 2001, gaining knowledge in vault balancing and ATM balancing. Prior to working at Central Bank, she spent 18 years at Furrow Building Material where she served as receptionist, cashier, head cashier, and department manager. She is now located at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT where she serves as CSR. Julie resides in Kokomo with her husband, Jerry. They have two daughters, two sons-in-law, five grandchildren, and a pug.

Jill Wittkamper is working as a teller at the Kokomo Central location of First Farmers Bank & Trust after working at Central Bank for two years as a loan secretary in Russiaville and then for one year as a full time teller at the Kokomo location. She lives in Tipton County with her husband of 28 years. She enjoys spending time with her family and is excited to work for FFBT. She enjoys watching the progress of the bank.

Sandy Glassburn is a lifelong native of Howard County. She graduated from Haworth High School and worked for Howard Regional Health System for 23.5 years. She joined Central Bank in 2005 as an Executive Secretary and will serve as Receptionist and Business Development Assistant at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT. She is married and has three children and three grandchildren and currently resides in Russiaville.

Janet Haworth is a life-long resident of Kokomo and started working for Central Bank in 1976. She began as a proof operator and then started working in different teller capacities. She is working at the Kokomo Central office as a teller and is looking forward to working at FFBT.

Anna Sefton has worked for Central Bank for the past 16 years as a teller and Customer Service Representative. She is working at the Kokomo Central branch as a teller and is looking forward to continue to serve her customers.

Terri Britton was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but has spent the last 29 years in Kokomo. She spent 18 year at First National Bank in the Security/Purchasing Department and joined Central Bank approximately one and a half years ago as Customer Service Representative. She is currently working at the Kokomo Central location of FFBT as a teller and loves every moment at work.

 

 

 

 

Celeste Smith has been working with Central Bank for 6 years, starting in proof and bookkeeping, then moving to loan processing and finally Bank Auditor. She is now the branch manager of the Russiaville office of FFBT. She is a volunteer of the Literacy Coalition in Kokomo and has one child who is a sophomore at Purdue this year.

 

 

 

 

Staci Bitner has worked with Central Bank for over 17 years in a variety of banking areas but her main background is in data processing and IT. She now works in Converse as IT Support and Programming Specialist and is looking forward to new opportunities at FFBT.

Beth Love has been working for Central Bank for the past 6.5 years where her duties included customer service, balancing the federal reserve, serving as vault clerk, processing payroll, and submitting the treasury tax and loan payments. She is still located at the Russiaville office of FFBT where she is a teller. She is married and has two children and enjoys spending time with her family.

Cori Lane began working at Central Bank about one year ago as a teller in the Russiaville office. She is still working in the Russiaville office as a full time teller for FFBT. She holds an Associates Degree in Business.

Nancy Hobson began working for Central Bank 25 years ago. Prior to that, she served with the Russiaville Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Technician. She is active in several community services and plays piano and organ at the Russiaville United Methodist Church. She has three children; one is a CPA in Indianapolis, one is a registered flight nurse, and one is a US Army Major. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, reading, knitting, and cooking. She has enjoyed getting to meet several people from FFBT and is looking forward to meeting more. She says that being with First Farmers has been a learning experience and is having a lot of fun in her position as full time teller at the Russiaville office.

Judi Johnson began working for Central Bank 13.5 years ago where she spent 10 years as a teller and 3.5 years in the bookkeeping department. At First Farmers, she will serve as CSR at the Russiaville office. She is married and has one daughter, Danielle, who is attending Ivy Tech and working at Howard Haven. Her husband, Steve, owns Johnson Body Shop in New London. She attends the Russiaville United Methodist Church.

Dale Tetrick comes to First Farmers Bank & Trust after 33 years at Central Bank, where he headed up the Operations and Investment areas, serving as Executive Vice President, Cashier, and CFO. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a concentration in Economics from Earlham College in 1974 and received an MBA with a Finance major from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1976. Dale is serving as Controller at First Farmers Bank & Trust and will be located at the Converse office.

 

Amanda Paul started with Central Bank in June 2009, and before that spent nine years at STAR Financial Bank in a variety of different positions. These positions ranged from Teller, Manager, Loan and Mortgage Originator to Administrative Assistant. She is from Howard County but is working at the Tipton office as a Loan Administrative Assistant.

Pam Lindley has been working in bookkeeping and proof operation at Central Bank for 12 years. She joined First Farmers in October as a full time teller and back up CSR at our Kokomo South office. She is familiar with the Kokomo community as she worked at the Kokomo office and resides in the Kokomo area.

 

Lori Meck

has been working in the banking industry since 1977 where she started at Union State Bank in Kokomo. Her husband is retired from the military and she has worked in banking in Indiana, as well as in New Mexico, Georgia, and North Dakota. She has worked for Central Bank for the past 7 years as Loan Processor, Receptionist, and Assistant to the Secretary. She now works at our Kokomo South office as a part-time teller. She and her husband are natives of Kokomo; both graduated from Northwestern High School and they have three children.

Debby Goodman has been working for Central Bank for the past 7 years at the Kokomo office. She came to First Farmers in October to begin working at our Peru River location as a full time teller. She lives in the Galveston area and is anxious to learn new techniques and to get to know the customers of Miami County.

 

Aimee Smith began working at Central Bank in 2005 as a part time teller, and her previous banking experience includes 10 years at First National Bank & Trust where she worked in the Proof Department, Bookkeeping, and served as an ATM/Online Banking Clerk. At Central Bank, she held positions including teller, vault clerk, and new account representative. She also handled IRAs. She now is working as a full time teller at the Kokomo North branch. She has an Associate’s Degree from Ivy Tech, has been married for 11 years and has two children.