Bank of America Names William Bland Athens Market President

ATHENS, Ga., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Georgia President Eugene J. Godbold today announced that William "Bill" Bland has been named market president for the Athens area.

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As market president, Bland will provide business, civic and philanthropic leadership for Bank of America throughout Greater Athens. He will work to strengthen communication and integration among the company's local business lines and strive to continuously improve customer experience, grow revenue in the region and represent Bank of America in the community.

"Bank of America is very fortunate to have an outstanding leader, civic champion and experienced banker like Bill to lead our team in Athens," said Godbold. "We are very excited to have him step into this critical role. Athens is a key market for Bank of America."

In his role as market president, Bland will lead a cross-functional team of seasoned banking leaders with many years of experience in the community. In addition to his market president duties, Bland serves as manager of the Epps Bridge Parkway banking center in Athens.

Bland began his career with Bank of America in 1991 as a lender with the housing division. He is a current or past volunteer with several community organizations including the Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia, Athens Area Arts Council, "Safe Campuses Now" UGA Chapter and Junior Achievement. He currently serves as vice-chair of the Board of The Institute for Violence Prevention and on the Board of the Athens Neighborhood Health Center.

As Athens market president, Bland succeeds Chris Manzi, who pursued other interests outside the bank.

Bland was born in Indianapolis, Ind. and currently resides in Athens with his wife, Sandra, and four children, Brittany, Amber, Austin and Bradley.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 54 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,700 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 19 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 79 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/