CertusBank lays out leadership team

Greenville, S.C.-based CertusBank announced Tuesday that it has put together a new leadership team that will make the bank more "agile" as it continues to work past a public dispute between investors and management.

The new lineup combines or eliminates some senior executive positions, the bank said.

Here are the new senior roles that will report to interim CEO John Poelker:

• Core Banking: Kelly Owens
• Mortgage: Gary Suess
• Small Business Finance: John Handmaker
• Operations: Meril Thornton
• Risk and Credit: Mark Abrams
• Finance and Accounting: Chris Speaks
• Investments and Treasury: Len Davenport
• Legal: Thomas Simpson

Another executive, audit head Deborah Ledford, will report directly to the bank's board.

The management announcement is one of the first moves Poelker has made since being installed atop the bank, which originated in 2010 in Charlotte-based Blue Ridge Holdings Inc. with a charter to buy failed banks.

CertusBank's co-founders were ousted by the bank's board after some investors questioned spending at the bank. One accusation levied by hedge fund manager Benjamin Weinger was that the bank had too many senior management positions.

Three of the bank's co-founders, Milton Jones, Walter Davis and Angela Webb, have sued CertusBank and Weinger, accusing them of libel.