Prominent banker finds a new post

Bruce Schultz, a well-known Gulf Coast banking executive, recently joined First Bank, a Clewiston-based community bank.

Schultz previously was Lee County market president for Stonegate Bank. Schultz helped engineer the sale of Fort Myers-based Southwest Capital Bank to Fort Lauderdale-based Stonegate in 2011. He left in April in the midst of management consolidation.

Prior to the sale to Stonegate, Schultz had been the president and CEO of Southwest Capital Bank and was an alumnus of SunTrust Bank in various posts on the Gulf Coast. His career in banking on the Gulf Coast has spanned 29 years.

Schultz says he joined First Bank as senior vice president of commercial lending and is helping the bank explore expansion opportunities in the Fort Myers area. Currently, the bank has one branch on State Road 80 near Interstate 75.

First Bank is among a dwindling number of community banks that has survived the real estate boom and bust. “This is one of those last standing Mohicans,” Schultz says.

But the decline in the number of community banks spells opportunities for those that remain. “This is a real community-focused group,” Schultz says. “Business people clamor for that kind of service.”