December 01, 2008

It doesn't happen as often as you'd think. Few people get the gender of Kelley Mobley wrong.He's the market executive for Augusta, the man in charge of leading First Citizens Bank's expansion across the Savannah River from South Carolina. That expansion is five offices in 24 months, some already operating, others on the drawing board.Mr. Mobley's office is in boxes right now, giving up his space on Walton Way Extension to a new executive and waiting for his office to be completed with the new branch on Furys Ferry."Furys Ferry gets us closer to rooftops, which matters in retail banking," Mr. Mobley said.That will be the South Carolina-based bank's third Augusta-area location. The institution was able to get into the Augusta market the quickest by acquiring two leftovers from the Wachovia-SouthTrust merger: Walton Way Extension and Columbia Road.Mr. Mobley's office will move again once an Evans office is constructed. It is a mound of dirt on North Belair Road right now, however.
"It's OK. I get to help get the brand established. We've got a whole new staff here (at Furys Ferry)," he said.Dr. David Carter of Carter Orthodontics has known Mr. Mobley for a few years, and agreed to sit on a local bank advisory board.A lot of the banks have gotten so big nowadays that they lost that small-town-bank kind of feel. Kelley is the type that is a throw back to the old-time bankers where you could get on the phone and say 'Kelley, I need some money for that deal' and the next day all the paperwork would be on your desk," Dr. Carter said.