FSGBank executive takes job in Atlanta

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

After more than a decade of serving as chief financial officer for First Security Group, parent of FSGBank, William L. "Chip" Lusk Jr. will leave Chattanooga's biggest independent bank next week to take a position at an Atlanta financial institution.

FSG announced Lusk's resignation Monday, appointing John R. Haddock, a certified public accountant and corporate controller who has worked at FSGBank since 2005, as interim CFO, according to company spokeswoman Melissa Kelly.

Lusk had been with FSG since the bank's inception in 1999 when several former executives of the then-recently merged Pioneer Bank/First American Bank resigned to start the Chattanooga-based bank.

"I'm going to work for a smooth transition at FSG, and I look forward to my new opportunity in Atlanta," Lusk said Monday. "I will miss my friends and family in Chattanooga."

Ralph E. "Gene" Coffman Jr., president and chief operating officer of First Security Group, said the company "won't miss a beat" with the transition. He said the bank continues to work on its strategic focus, analyzing "all of the options out there."

FSG, with $1.17 billion in assets, lost $35.4 million in 2009 and another $46.4 million in 2010, due primarily to loan losses during the recent recession.

"We definitely know we're not meeting all of the capital requirements from the consent order (with federal bank regulators) in April 2010, so we're still pursuing those avenues," Coffman said. "The board has been discussing all of the approaches - I'm not at liberty to say what they are, but everything is still on the table."

Contact staff writer Brittany Cofer at bcofer@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.

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