Business First Bancshares BFST

Jerry Vascocu currently serves as President of b1BANK and has been with the bank since November 2022, previously serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Vascocu has more than 30 years of banking experience, having served as director of commercial banking strategy at First Horizon from 2020 until 2022 and in various leadership roles across Louisiana while at IBERIABANK for 15 years. Mr. Vascocu serves as a board member of Ochsner Lafayette General Hospital, Ochsner Lafayette General Foundation, and is a member and past chairman of the Young Presidents' Organization Louisiana Chapter. He has previously served as chairman of the board of One Acadiana, commissioner with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA), board member and chair of the Operational Excellence Committee for the United Way of Acadiana, chairman of the Ascension Episcopal School Board of Trustees and member of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette B.I. Moody School of Business Advisory Council. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

Greg Robertson has served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of b1BANK since January 2017 and has been with Business First since 2011. He previously served as our Chief Banking Officer. He has been in the banking business since 1996. Mr. Robertson worked at City Savings Bank and Trust Co. from 1996 to 2011, where he served in many capacities, including branch manager, commercial lender, program manager for City Savings Financial Services, and Senior Vice President. As Chief Financial Officer for b1BANK, he leads the finance and risk areas of the Bank including accounting, treasury and investments, and special assets. Mr. Robertson graduated from Northwestern State University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Keith Mansfield serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for b1BANK and has 27 years of banking experience. In his role as Chief Operations Officer, Mr. Mansfield is responsible for all aspects of the Bank's operations, which include information technology, electronic banking, loan operations, deposit operations, transaction services, branch and treasury operations, business intelligence, facilities, information security operations, vendor management, business continuity, and project management. Mr. Mansfield served most recently as the Bank's Chief Information Officer. Before joining b1BANK, Mr. Mansfield served as the Chief Technology Officer for a regional financial institution in the Southeast. Mr. Mansfield received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Mark Folse previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of b1BANK and currently serves as the Lead Director of both Business First and b1BANK. Prior to joining b1BANK, he served as a founding organizer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pedestal Bancshares, Inc., and its subsidiary Pedestal Bank, which merged with Business First in 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Folse served as General Counsel to the Louisiana Bankers Association. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance, a Juris Doctor from the Louisiana State University Law Center and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado. He has served the industry as a board member of the Louisiana Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association Community Bankers Council, and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors Bankers Advisory Board. He also has served as a board member of First National Bankers Bank. Community service has included board membership on the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority, the South Louisiana Economic Council, the United Way for South Louisiana, and the Chabert Medical Center Foundation.

Rolfe McCollister is a founder and currently serves as Vice Chairman of Business First and b1BANK. Mr. McCollister was the founder of Louisiana Business, Inc. which published the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report (started in 1982), 225 magazine, inRegister magazine, Daily Report online news, Welcome magazine, 10/12 Industry Report and other specialty publications. In 2021, Louisiana Business, Inc. was acquired by Melara Enterprises and Mr. McCollister was named Chairman Emeritus of Melara Enterprises, Inc. Mr. McCollister is a graduate of Louisiana State University and served two terms as a member of the LSU System Board of Supervisors, including being elected chairperson. He was inducted into LSU's E.J. Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction.

David Montgomery serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK and is the current Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Montgomery has served as Vice President of Montgomery Agency, Inc., an independent insurance agency, since 1990. Mr. Montgomery is a 50% partner in Brothers Ventures, a Real Estate Investment LLC. Mr. Montgomery is a Certified Public Accountant, and he served 24 years as councilman at large with Bossier City, Louisiana. He was also the Chairman of the Budget Committee for the Bossier City Council. Since 1996, Mr. Montgomery has served on the Finance Committee for North Louisiana Volunteers of America. Mr. Montgomery holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Louisiana State University.

Arthur Price serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Price has served as Vice President, Finance / CFO for Badger Oil Corporation and was named President / CFO in 2017. Badger Oil and its affiliates participate in the exploration, drilling and production of crude oil and natural gas, with primary operations in the Louisiana Gulf Coast region and the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to joining Badger Oil, Mr. Price worked as an oil and gas accountant with a specialized firm located in Lafayette, Louisiana. As a senior member of the oil and gas community, Mr. Price is an active board member of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, and past chairman of the Board, and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Mr. Price is also a former member of the board of The Lafayette Petroleum Club, having served as Treasurer and President. Mr. Price received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now The University of Louisiana, Lafayette) in 1989 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Patrick Mockler serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Mockler has been a partner of Mockler Beverage Company in Baton Rouge since 1995. He was active in day-to-day operations from 1994-2018 and served as its President from 2007 to 2018. Mockler Beverage acquired the Houma territory in 2022, and the Lake Charles/Alexandria territory in 2024. Mr. Mockler has been a partner of New Orleans Eagle Investments since its inception in 2009 to acquire Southern Eagle Sales and Service in New Orleans and has been President of Southern Eagle since 2018. Additionally, he has experience as a director of b1BANK since 2006, served on the Loan Committee for four years, the Audit Committee for seven years, the Risk Committee for the last nine years, the Compensation Committee for the last ten years and has been the Chair of the Compensation Committee since 2017. Mr. Mockler served on the board of LWCC (Louisiana Workers Comp Corp) for 10 years from 2015-2024, served as Vice-Chair of its Investment Committee and Vice-Chair of its Audit Committee. Mr. Mockler has served on dozens of charitable boards and committees as well. He is a 1993 graduate of Louisiana State University with a business degree in International Trade and Finance.

Steve White serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. White serves as the Chairman for the William A. Robinson Foundation and as Substitute Trustee for William A. Robinson Trust. He also serves on a privately held Oil & Gas service company Board of Directors. Mr. White's previous work experiences include serving in roles as President, Senior Vice President, and other executive roles in U.S. and international logistic businesses. He has served as a Chief Operations Officer and Chief Administrative Officer in the home health and hospice industry. Mr. White graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering in 1985 and has attended several executive management programs at various universities. Mr. White's experience in asset management and his knowledge of oil and gas, logistics and the health care industry are valuable to our board of directors.

John Ducrest serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Ducrest is the former Commissioner of the Office of Financial Institutions (OFI) for the State of Louisiana. He retired from this position in December of 2020 after more than 16 years as commissioner and 35 years with OFI. Mr. Ducrest is a Certified Public Accountant-retired, Certified Fraud Examiner-retired, and Certified Examination Manager-retired. He is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) with a degree in Business Administration and the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University. On the national level, Mr. Ducrest served as the Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, being only the second Louisiana Commissioner to serve in this role. He was also a principal of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) which was created by the Dodd-Frank Act and is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury. FSOC is comprised of the heads of all federal financial regulators and a state bank, insurance, and securities commissioner. The Council seeks to address systemic risk to the financial system of the United States. Additionally, Mr. Ducrest served as a principal of the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) which prescribes uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the FRB, the FDIC, the NCUA, the OCC, and the CFPB, and to make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions.

. Vernon Johnson serves as director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Johnson is a career banker, having served in various executive positions in the banking industry over the past forty-seven years. Mr. Johnson served most recently as Chairman of the Board of Pedestal Bancshares, Inc. and Pedestal Bank in Houma, Louisiana, which merged with Business First in 2020, and has previously served on the board of the Louisiana Bankers Association. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and business from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana, Lafayette) and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.

Ricky Day serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Day is Owner and President of Ricky Day Trucking which includes a fleet of 50 units operating in Louisiana and Texas. He also owns DeRidder Truck Parts and is co-owner of Southland Group which owns multiple companies operating in the timber industry. Mr. Day has extensive director experience, previously serving as director of Pedestal Bank and City Savings Bank.

Zeenat Sidi serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Ms. Sidi is a former C-suite executive in the fintech and consumer banking/payments industry, with over 25 years of experience spanning P&L leadership, digital transformation, risk management, operations, and strategy, in the US and Canada. As loanDepot's President of Digital Products and Services, she led the development of the company's mortgage-adjacent products and services that complemented the company's core mortgage and servicing operations platform, as well as its digital customer engagement strategy. Prior to this role, Ms. Sidi built and led businesses at purpose-driven fintech companies like SoFi and served in various executive leadership roles at Capital One and RBC. Ms. Sidi holds an MBA with Fuqua Scholar Distinction from Duke University, a Master of Science in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Systems Analysis from the University of Miami. She has served as the Chair of the Audit Committee of the Board for the Texas Women's Foundation, one of the largest regional non-profit women's funds in the country committed to advancing positive social and economic change for women and girls. In 2022, Zeenat was recognized as one of the top 50 Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center.

Keith Tillage serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Mr. Tillage is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tillage Construction, LLC, a minority full service commercial construction and construction management company. Tillage Construction has received numerous awards including being a finalist for the Black Enterprise Small Business of the year award, receiving the HUBZONE business of the year award, The United States Small Business Award for excellence, as well as being recognized as one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. 500/5000 in 2011 and 2012. More recently, Keith was named Louisiana District and SBA Region 6 Minority Small Business Person of the Year and received the distinct honor of being selected as one of the 12 small business CEOs invited to the White House for the sole purpose of consulting President Obama on the Fiscal Cliff. Mr. Tillage has served on the board of the Minority Supply Diversity Council, YMCA - A.C. Lewis Branch, and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. He is also a former member of US Black Chambers President's Circle.

Aimee Quirk serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Ms. Quirk is the Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Development Officer for Ochsner Health and Chief Executive Officer of Ochsner Ventures. In this role, Quirk leads development of external growth initiatives across the healthcare landscape including innovative partnerships, new ventures, diversified businesses and strategic investments in emerging companies and funds. In addition, Quirk has executive responsibility for both marketing and enterprise communications for the health system. Ms. Quirk joined Ochsner in 2015 as the founding CEO of innovationOchsner (iO), Ochsner's innovation company focused on advancing digital health, advanced analytics and precision medicine. Under Quirk's leadership, iO became a nationally recognized leader in healthcare innovation for pioneering award-winning digital health solutions. In her six years in this role, Ms. Quirk's responsibility expanded to include system strategy and execution efforts for digital health inclusive of telemedicine and digital medicine. Prior to joining Ochsner, Ms. Quirk served as the Senior Advisor for Economic Development for the City of New Orleans. Prior to her public service, she was a partner in the New Orleans law firm Jones Walker. Quirk received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana State University and a J.D. summa cum laude from Tulane University School of Law. A native of New Orleans, Ms. Quirk is active in the community and serves on several boards, including Obatala Sciences, Inc.; GNO, Inc.; and The Idea Village. Ms. Quirk has been recognized by Becker's Hospital Review among the Women Power Players in Health IT and Women in Health IT to Watch and a Woman of the Year and a Healthcare Hero by CityBusiness Magazine.

Alejandro Sanchez serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. He presently serves as the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Salva Financial Group of Florida, a consulting group advising financial firms on strategy, crisis management, and providing advice and counsel on financial regulatory matters. Mr. Sanchez is currently a professor for the School of Business at The University of Edinburgh, an Executive Advisor at Nasdaq, and a director for Popular Bank, Republic Bank and Trust, and Apalachee Center Inc. Mr. Sanchez served as President and CEO for the Florida Bankers Association from February 1998 to December 2023. He served as a director for TRUSTCO BANK from 2022 to 2023 and he served as a board member of the Exim Bank Advisory Committee from 2018 to 2020. Mr. Sanchez was nominated by President George W. Bush as one of three Presidential appointees for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board from 2002 to 2010 and was invited by President Obama to serve an additional two years. Mr. Sanchez served as director of Bankers Insurance Group and a member of its Compliance, Audit, and Investment and Claims Committees from 2007 to 2011. Mr. Sanchez received his JD from the University of Iowa, College of Law, and his BS in Business and Social Science from Troy University. Mr. Sanchez served in the U.S. Air Force from 1976 to 1981 and received an honorable discharge.

William Hall serves as a director for Business First and b1BANK. Prior to joining b1BANK, he served as the chairman and a director of Oakwood Bancshares, Inc. and as a director of its wholly owned subsidiary, Oakwood Bank, Inc., which merged with Business First in October 2024. Mr. Hall previously served as president and director of Bedford National Bank, which was sold to Wells Fargo, and chairman, vice chairman, and director of Mid-Cities Bancshares, Inc., and Mid-Cities National Bank, which was sold to Bank of Texas. Mr. Hall serves as CEO and managing partner of Align Capital, a private equity firm in Austin, Texas, and CEO of Treats Investments, LLC, a family office investment company in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Hall also serves as a director and treasurer for Anson Bancshares Inc., a Texas Bank Holding Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, First National Bank of Anson.

Saundra Strong has been with b1BANK since October 2021 and serves as the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the Company's legal functions. Before joining b1BANK, Ms. Strong served as an Assistant General Counsel for a regional financial institution in the Southeast. She earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2000 and her Juris Doctorate from Mississippi College School of Law in 2003.

Warren McDonald has been with b1BANK since opening in February 2006 and currently serves as the Chief Credit Officer. Mr. McDonald started at b1BANK as the Senior Commercial Lender in the Baton Rouge Market and later served as the Market President for the Baton Rouge and Northshore Markets. Mr. McDonald began his commercial banking career in 1988 in the Management Trainee Program with Premier Bank (currently Chase Bank) and has worked in various commercial banking production capacities with Regions Bank and Whitney National Bank. Mr. McDonald graduated from Louisiana State University in 1988 with a BS in Finance and in 1994 with an MBA.

Kathryn Manning serves as the Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer of b1BANK. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the Company's risk management framework including Enterprise Risk, Credit, Fraud, BSA, Compliance, and Loan Review. Ms. Manning has been with b1BANK since September 2013 and previously served as its Chief Data Officer, where she was responsible for data governance, business intelligence, and the integration of data-driven strategies across the organization's operational and growth initiatives. Before joining b1BANK, Ms. Manning served in various roles at other large financial institutions. She earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Finance from Louisiana State University in 2009 and 2010, respectively. She has been recognized for her professional achievements as an honoree of the Baton Rouge Business Report's Forty Under 40 in 2024 and as a member of the 2025 class of Leadership Louisiana. Ms. Manning currently serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Capital Area Family Justice Center and serves on the ProSight Community Bank Council.

Heather Roemer serves as the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer of b1BANK and President of b1 FOUNDATION. As Chief Administrative Officer, Heather oversees the teams responsible for business transformation programs and product management, marketing and communications, and human resources and talent development. Ms. Roemer has been with b1BANK since 2009 and previously served as its Chief of Staff and Director of Corporate Governance. She has played a key role in the bank's growth and community engagement, helping shape its culture, operations, and long-term vision. A founding leader of b1 FOUNDATION, she has led initiatives focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship education, and community empowerment throughout the bank's footprint. Heather is a graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University, where she served as class president. She also holds a degree from Louisiana State University.

Chad Carter currently serves as the EVP of Correspondent Banking, leading the Bank's SBA, Wealth Management, Derivative Solutions, Financial Institutions, and Mortgage teams. Mr. Carter has been with the Bank since April 2011, previously serving as the North Louisiana Regional President, SVP - Commercial Lending, and VP - Commercial Lending. In 2023, Mr. Carter was honored to receive the Louisiana Young Banker Impact Award from the Louisiana Bankers Association. Mr. Carter volunteers his time and expertise to numerous charitable organizations and community initiatives, including the Louisiana Tech Graduate School of Banking, Louisiana Tech Foundation Board, United Way and the North Louisiana Economic Partnership. Mr. Carter has a degree in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech University and has completed the Graduate School of Banking program at Louisiana State University.

In July 2024, David R. Melville was appointed Chairman of both Business First and b1BANK. He has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Business First since 2011. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of b1BANK over the same time and continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer of b1BANK, in addition to his roles at Business First Bancshares. Mr. Melville has served as a director of both entities since April 2010 and has held various management roles since the Bank's chartering in 2006. Prior to becoming a community banker, Mr. Melville served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He earned a bachelor's degree in social studies from Harvard College and a Master of Science in Management from the London School of Economics. Mr. Melville is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University. He is an executive board member of Louisiana's Committee of 100 and formerly served as Chair of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Chair of the Federal Reserve Depository Institutions Advisory Council, among other affiliations, including serving as Chair of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

Upon the closing of the merger, David Hampton, Progressive's president, joined b1BANK as vice chairman of the North Louisiana market, effective January 5, 2026.

Upon the closing of the Merger, the Board of Directors of BFST appointed Mr. George W. Cummings III to the BFST Board and of b1BANK effective January 5, 2026. Prior to joining BFST and b1BANK, Mr. Cummings served as chairman and chief executive officer of Progressive. Mr. Cummings has over 45 years of experience in banking.