[06/12/01] RiverHills Bank and BancorpSouth have new presidents in a series of personnel changes.

Mark Buys, president of RiverHills Bank since it opened in Vicksburg in 1998, resigned as of Thursday, said Howell N. “Hal” Gage, board chairman at RiverHills.

Succeeding Buys as president of RiverHills was Joel Horton, who had been president of BancorpSouth in Vicksburg, Gage said.

Horton had already decided it was time for him to change employers, Gage said. “We sort of intercepted him. Joel’s first day was today,” Gage said Monday.

Horton came to Vicksburg in 1983 and worked with Gage for years at Merchants where Gage was CEO and Horton was president before and after Merchants became a local division of BancorpSouth.

Gage left as head of operations for the Tupelo-based BancorpSouth in Vicksburg several months ago to join RiverHills, which had been the Bank of Port Gibson.

Following Horton in the top leadership role in BancorpSouth’s local organization is Robert J. “Bobby” Burks, said Randy Burchfield, a marketing executive with BancorpSouth’s Tupelo headquarters.

Burks is returning to Vicksburg banking, having served as a vice president of Merchants Bank before taking the post of divisional vice president with BancorpSouth in charge of its banks in the Jackson area.

Buys could not be reached.

RiverHills operates two offices in Vicksburg and has its main office in Port Gibson.