SWFL community bank in expansion mode lures new exec

NAPLES — Seacoast Bank, one of the largest community banks in Florida, is expanding to a  new market: Southwest Florida.

The Stuart-based bank has named Jason Brewer, former market president for Truist Bank in Lee and Collier Counties, to head up the new office, as Naples market president. The move, according to a statement, “continues Seacoast Bank’s strategic growth and expansion into key markets across Florida.”

Brewer, according to his LinkedIn profile, was a top commercial banking official with BB&T in Southwest Florida for five years, prior to the bank’s merger with SunTrust. That merger culminated in the transition to Truist. Brewer held wealth management and lending posts at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank prior to BB&T.

“Seacoast continues to bring our personalized brand of customer service and high-quality digital offerings to Floridians across our state by expanding into new and attractive markets,” Seacoast Chairman and CEO Chuck Shaffer says in the release. “Southwest Florida, and Naples in particular, is a thriving, dynamic market. With Jason leading the team, I’m confident that Seacoast Bank will be the trusted financial partner of choice for commercial customers and consumers in the area.”

The new Seacoast Bank branch and commercial banking office opened Feb. 28. In October, Seacoast announced the addition of Tim McLean, who joined the bank’s real estate lending division as senior vice president of commercial real estate. He brings 33 years of commercial banking experience in the Naples market.

Seacoast Bank has been serving Floridians for nearly a century. Under publicly traded Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, the bank had some $9.7 billion in assets and $8.1 billion in deposits through Dec. 31. It has more than 50 full-service branches across Florida.