[08/09/01] Former Vicksburg banker William I. “Buddy” Lewis will assume the presidency of Trustmark National Bank in Vicksburg in a series of changes that will see Jerry Hall, now president, promoted to regional executive in charge of Trustmark’s Southern Community Bank Division.

Also, John Bonar has been promoted from his post as senior vice president for Trustmark here to senior credit administrator.

Before joining Trustmark in 1983, Lewis was vice president of Merchants Bank, which was subsequently sold to BancorpSouth. He has been president of the Trustmark operation in McComb since 1989.

Lewis said Thursday morning he hopes to begin working in Vicksburg early next week.

“The man who is replacing me here is starting today, and I am going to spend a few days getting him settled in,” Lewis said from his McComb office.

He said his wife, Paulette, has already begun looking at houses in Vicksburg.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “Eighteen years ago, one of the hardest things I had to do was take my family away from Vicksburg. Vicksburg is really the first place we put down roots and Vicksburg still feels like home to me.”

Lewis is a graduate of Forest Hill High School in Jackson and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in banking and finance from the University of Mississippi. He is a graduate of the Memphis School of Banking at the University of Memphis, the National Bank Examiners School in Washington, D.C., and the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. From 1968 to 1977, he worked as a bank examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

In his new post, Hall will be the Trustmark executive over Trustmark’s 10 community banks south of Interstate 20. His main office will be in Jackson but he will also maintain an office in Vicksburg.

“I’m very excited about it,” Hall said Thursday morning.

He said he had taken on the duties of southern region executive in addition to remaining president of the Vicksburg operation earlier this year.

Hall said when the time came to pick someone to succeed him as the local president, Trustmark officials wanted someone who was familiar with Vicksburg and found Lewis as the ideal person.

“Vicksburg is in the southern division, and I will be available to offer any assistance Mr. Lewis may need,” Hall said.

Hall is a native of Charleston and was reared in Vicksburg. Since he returned to Vicksburg and joined what was then the First National Bank of Vicksburg as president, Hall has served as president of the United Way of West Central Mississippi, the Vicksburg Warren County Chamber of Commerce and the Cancer Society and chairman of the Economic Development Foundation.

He and his wife, Carolyn, will continue to live in Vicksburg.