Prominent banker promoted to regional exec role

SARASOTA — Longtime area banker and business and civic community leader Shaun Merriman has been named regional president of CenterState Bank's West Florida unit.

The position is effective Jan. 1, 2018, according to a statement. Merriman will oversee the bank's operations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Manatee counties. He will also work closely with three other CenterState community presidents while continuing to maintain his current role as community president of the bank's Sarasota and Manatee offices. He will remain based in Sarasota, the release adds.

Merriman has been with the organization since March, when a merger between Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida, which Merriman founded in 2006, and Winter Haven-based CenterState closed. CenterState acquired Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida's parent unit, Gateway Financial Holdings of Florida, for $142 million. The deal translated to 1.85 times Gateway's core tangible book value and provided shareholders from when the bank was formed a return that roughly doubles the original investment. After recent acquisitions, CenterState will have more than $10 billion in assets.

“Shaun has a distinguished career of building and leading great teams. His energy, experience, and commitment to our core values make him the ideal choice to be our new regional president of West Florida,” says CenterState CEO John Corbett in the release.

Sarasota area organizations outside the bank Merriman has either chaired or been a part of include the Van Wezel Foundation, the American Heart Association, Doctors Hospital of Sarasota and the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. On his new role with the bank, Merriman says “I am delighted to take on this additional responsibility and look forward to the future growth of CenterState in the Greater Tampa Bay Region.”