Hampton Roads Bankshares names new CEO

NORFOLK

Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc., which was hit in May by the abrupt retirement of its longtime CEO, said Tuesday that it hired a successor with experience in community banking in the region.

The Norfolk-based parent of Bank of Hampton Roads, Gateway Bank and Shore Bank said it tapped John A.B. "Andy" Davies, who headed Virginia Beach Savings Bank in the 1990s. Davies later became president of the Virginia market of Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Centura Bank before departing in 2004 to start a bank consulting firm.

Davies, 58, said he came to know much more about the workings of Hampton Roads Bankshares while doing consulting work for the company in the spring. His immediate goals are to meld the company's cultures and pursue continued growth in the banks' different markets, said Davies, who was named president and CEO of Hampton Roads Bankshares and its Bank of Hampton Roads subsidiary. He also was named a director of the parent company and the bank.

A native of Culpeper and a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Stonier Graduate School of Banking, Davies began his career in Norfolk 35 years ago with Virginia National Bank, a predecessor of Bank of America. He takes over as head of Hampton Roads Bankshares in the wake of a sudden departure by its longtime CEO, Jack Gibson, who helped organize Bank of Hampton Roads.

In December, Hampton Roads Bankshares acquired the Virginia Beach-based parent of Gateway Bank & Trust, which extended the company's reach to Richmond, Charlottesville, Raleigh and Wilmington, N.C. However, the chairman and CEO of Gateway and its parent, Ben Berry, abruptly left the merged company in April.

Hampton Roads Bankshares' stock price closed Tuesday at $6.47, down 34 cents.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com