Sunshine State Bank hires new CEO

PLANT CITY - Sunshine Bancorp Inc. has hired Andrew Samuel as president, CEO and director of the holding company and its subsidiary Sunshine State Bank.

Samuel will succeed J. Floyd Hall, who has led the company since 1986. Hall has announced his retirement, but will remain on the bank's board of directors, and will serve in an advisor capacity to Samuel.

Samuel has more than 30 years of financial industry experience. He most recently served as chairman, president and CEO of Susquehanna Bank, which has more than 240 branch offices.

“We are extremely proud to have attracted an executive of Andrew's caliber to join our company,” Ray Rollyson, chairman of the board since 2007, says in a press release. “Not only because of his background and financial services experience, but also his core values and experience in creating successful financial companies.”

Organized in 1954 under the name First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Plant City, the bank was renamed earlier this year along with a change in its ownership structure. As of June 30, the bank had $311.78 million in total assets.