Civista Bancshares Inc. Announces GC's Retirement, and His Replacement
Civista Bancshares Inc. announced that its longtime general counsel, James McGookey, will be retiring effective Dec. 31 and that Lance Morrison will take his place.
December 26, 2018 at 04:59 PM
2 minute read
Photo: Shutterstock
A financial holding company based in Sandusky, Ohio, announced Monday that its long-time general counsel will be stepping down to retire, effective Dec. 31, and a senior vice president hired in the fall will take over as the bank's legal leader.
James McGookey will retire from Civista Bancshares Inc. after 16 years as its top attorney. McGookey became senior vice president, general counsel of Civista in 2002, according to the news release, and corporate secretary in 2007. In 2013, McGookey was given the title of executive vice president and continued to serve in his role as general counsel. Before joining Civista, he was a partner at Buckingham, Lucal, McGookey & Zeiher in Sandusky, where he represented Civista from 2000 to 2002, according to the release.
Dennis G. Shaffer, president and CEO of Civista Bancshares, said in a statement, “Jim's insight and guidance the past 16 years has been instrumental in Civista's continued growth.
Shaffer added, ”In preparation for Jim's retirement, Lance A. Morrison joined Civista as senior vice president this fall and will assume the position of general counsel for both Civista and Civista Bank upon Jim's retirement.”
Morrison was hired in October and will be taking over as general counsel upon McGookey's retirement, according to the news release. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously served as the vice president, general counsel and director of human resources at The Cortland Savings and Banking Co. He also was a judge advocate with the U.S. Naval Academy, according to the release. He holds undergraduate and law degrees from The Ohio State University.
Morrison and McGookey were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Civista Bancshares is a $2.1 billion financial holding company, according to the news release. Its banking subsidiary, Civista Bank, operates in 38 locations in Ohio, southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky.
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