First Oklahoma Bank opens

By LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer - 11/4/2009


First Oklahoma Holdings Inc. completed its purchase Wednesday of Glencoe State Bank and has moved its headquarters to Tulsa.

The bank’s name has been changed to First Oklahoma Bank.

First Oklahoma Holdings, the bank’s holding company, was created last year with the purpose of opening a bank in Tulsa either through a de novo bank or the acquisition of an existing institution.

The headquarters has been relocated to the 57th floor of CityPlex Towers at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue. That facility houses the bank’s executive and lending offices, and by January will offer a full-service banking facility on the first floor.

First Oklahoma also is opening a second branch at 41st Street and Rockford Avenue, where a groundbreaking on the future 10,000-square-foot building takes place Thursday afternoon.

A temporary, modular facility will open for business Monday at the site of the future branch, said Tom Bennett Jr., chairman and co-CEO of the new bank. The permanent facility is expected to open next August.

The bank’s full-service Glencoe office, which has been renamed First Oklahoma, will remain open with all members of its current staff. Signs with the bank’s new name will go up this weekend.

“I feel really blessed that God would give us an opportunity to do this again with our friends and colleagues, who’ve been with us so many years, both investors and staff who’ve come together,” Bennett said. “It’s exciting to get to do something we enjoy.”

Bennett, whose resume includes serving as president of Stillwater National Bank in Tulsa and helping create Oklahoma National Bank and Trust Co., is working with many of the latter bank’s investors.

Oklahoma National was started in 2000 and later renamed ONB Bank. Bennett retired from ONB in March 2008.

First Oklahoma Holdings is owned by 180 families who have invested $17 million in the venture.

Bennett is joined in the company by his wife, Sue Bennett, who will serve as senior vice president and director of marketing and investor relations. Their son Tom Bennett III is the bank’s president and co-CEO, while their son Jim Bennett will serve as vice president.

First Oklahoma will have 25 employees in Tulsa and seven in Glencoe.





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