Nearly 15 years after bank collapsed, rural SBA loan leader is back in action

Charlie Conoley will seek to grow the USDA loan program at BayFirst National Bank in St. Petersburg.

By Mark Gordon
| 7:00 a.m. February 26, 2023
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Charlie Conoley has serviced more than $300 million in USDA and SBA loans in his career.

Finance

Longtime Manatee County community banker Charlie Conoley has been appointed to head up rural SBA lending for St. Petersburg-based BayFirst National Bank.

Conoley was named vice president, USDA Rural Development Lending Officer — a new position for the $930.17 million asset BayFirst, according to a statement.

It's a full-circle moment for Conoley, who founded Horizon Bank in Bradenton in 1999; one of its specialities was USDA agriculture lending. The bank became one of the leading originators of U.S. Department of Agriculture loans in the Southeast.