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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying to project calm after regional bank failures, saying the U.S. banking system is “sound” but additional rescue arrangements “could be warranted” if any new failures at smaller institutions pose a risk to financial stability.

After more than four decades on the board for American National Bankshares, Charles H. Majors will retire as a director and non-executive chair, the company announced Wednesday.

The retirement will be effective at the end of the company's annual meeting scheduled May 16.

In September 1981 — while he was president of the Danville law firm Clement & Wheatley — he joined the board as an independent director.

In 1993, Majors left his job as a lawyer and began a position as bank president of American National Bank just a block away.

“I left across the street on the 31st day of 1992 and on Jan. 1, I moved half a block and had to start thinking like a banker,” Majors said in a 2014 interview with the Register & Bee about his retirement from his executive position at the bank to become the non-executive chairman of the bank and company’s boards.

A multi-year transition helped gradually replace Majors with current president and CEO Jeffrey V. Haley.

Haley now will take on the role of chair of the board while still remaining as the bank's CEO and president. At the same time, Nancy Howell Agee will become lead independent director, succeeding Michael P. Haley, the company reported in a news release.

“I can’t thank Charley enough for his 41 years of service to American National,” Haley said in a statement Wednesday. “He was instrumental in ensuring a solid foundation for our Company and as his tenure draws to a close, we remain in a very strong position."

Haley became president of the bank in 2010 and president of the company and CEO of the bank in 2012. Since 2013, he has served as president and CEO of the company and the bank.

"I’m incredibly proud of him and the entire board for the tremendous work that has been done with regards to our Company’s succession planning," Haley said of Majors. "I look forward to working with our new directors as we continue to grow and evolve this Company.”

The company's board also announced nominees for directors in the Wednesday news release including Rick Barker and Adrian Smith. An election will be held at the annual meeting.

Barker, a resident of Danville, is owner and president of Supply Resources. He's also a member of the Bank’s Virginia State Banking Board.

Smith, a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, is the owner and CEO of Ice Management Inc., and owner/operator of McDonald’s franchises in North Carolina and Virginia. He is currently a member of the bank’s North Carolina State Banking Board, according to the news release.

In addition, J. Nathan Duggins III and William J. Farrell II, who were appointed as directors by the board in October, have been nominated for new terms, as have the following directors whose current terms are expiring: Tammy Moss Finley, Dan M. Pleasant and Joel R. Shepherd.

Current directors whose terms do not expire and who remain in office are Agee, Jeff Haley, Michael Haley, F.D. Hornaday III, John H. Love and Ronda M. Penn, the company reported.

Jeffrey W. Farrar and Edward C. Martin have both been promoted to senior executive vice president of the company and the bank, reporting directly to Haley. Both Farrar and Martin have more than 50 years of combined banking experience, with 10 of those years at American National.

Agee, the president and CEO of Carilion Clinic, is formerly a director of HomeTown Bank and HomeTown Bankshares. She became a director of the company and the bank in 2019, upon the merger with the HomeTown entities, according to the release.

She is also a director of RGC Resources, Inc. and Healthcare Realty Trust Inc.

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Sovah Health has gotten rid of its chief operating officers in Danville and Martinsville and eliminated those positions. 

ModWash will make a splash this summer in Danville.

Locally, $14 million will be invested to grow the facility

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