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In our Rooted in Community, Driven by Experience series, we proudly highlight the leaders who guide Citizens Bank & Trust with vision, dedication, and a deep commitment to our values. This week, we feature Charlie Williams, who joined the bank in 2008, became President and joined our board of Directors in 2015, and was appointed President & CEO in 2017. With a banking career that spans both large institutions and community banking, Charlie brings a unique perspective, and a strong focus on preserving our culture as he leads Citizens Bank & Trust into the future.

Q & A with Charlie Williams

What do you value most about being part of the Citizens Bank & Trust team?

This is a difficult question to answer in just a few words. Prior to joining Citizens Bank & Trust in June 2008, my entire banking history had been solely with large bank institutions. The sense of family that I noticed on Day 1 was not something I had noticed to this degree in any prior job – dating back to my first banking job in 1981. This continues to speak loudly to me, and maintaining this is honestly what I consider “Job 1” as we look at the future of our Bank, where we are going, and in what we will accomplish. We have a Culture within the Bank that colors everything decision we make – hiring, coaching, how we review performance, and how we are actually living the standards we set for ourselves. This is key to any continued success we will have. We all are a part of something bigger than ourselves … and we get it. I value the fact that I hear compliments about our Bank – every day – and these only drive home the fact that I am blessed to be surrounded by so many to do great work, treat others well, and understand their role – whatever it may be – in how we serve the Communities in which we operate. It doesn’t happen everywhere. We Do the Right Thing is our first Core Value, and it tends to foster the next right thing with our staff. It takes a lot of intentionality, desire, and passion … but if asked about what I value it would be our attentiveness to this.  

How do you see Citizens Bank & Trust making a positive impact in the community?

This is actually something that is encouraged within the Bank.   In my view, we cannot be a Community Bank, and we cannot serve if we are not engaged and active.   We live, work, attend Church, engage in sports and activities with our children, and see people that are customers or potential customers everywhere we go.   We have the same goals and same desires to make positive contributions – just like those we see and are around every day.   We have a Volunteerism Program – The Spirit of Citizens – that offers paid time away for doing what is necessary for someone else or some group that has a need.    It is so much a part of the Bank’s DNA that I believe it would happen anyway … but making it easier for our staff is our best option.   We are not perfect, but the effort is always there.   We have regular reading buddies, those that coach, those that mentor, deliver meals, our Citizens Charity Classic has donated in excess of $410,000 to date to the NE Alabama Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, we donate to worthwhile causes, support our schools, first responders, sit on and participate in Boards where we can make an impact, engage deeply with the United Way and their agencies, and simply try to see and fill needs where we can.  We are all blessed to live where we do, but choosing to make a difference is a Core Value of Citizens Bank & Trust.   I am certain I don’t know about all that gets done by our employees, but I am also certain those that are served are the beneficiaries.   We are not the only Bank in the communities we serve --- we just want the individuals in those communities to feel and experience the fact we are here.   It is a point of differentiation, and it makes the jobs we each have more powerful – to us and to others.      

What unique perspective or experience do you bring to the board?

This is an interesting question, because I am one of two “insiders” that are also on the Board.   Our Founder, Mike Alred is the other, and though retired from day-to-day banking duties he impacts the Bank as Chairman of the Board.   We are blessed to have an engaged Board, that take their engagement in the communities we serve seriously.   They make an effort to stay informed, are integral to the strategic goals and plans we have, but at the same time understand their role is not to “run the Bank”.    We have a group with different industry and business experience, and all are a phone call or a necessary face-to-face meeting away.   My sole perspective and experience is derived from being a career Banker, and with this I view my role as insuring we serve, that we are sufficiently nimble in how we deliver Bank products and services, and that we stay true to the Bank we have been building since 2003.   Bank metrics, how we deliver credit and accept risk in our loan portfolio, how we grow shareholder value – the most important job in any corporation – and how we maintain credibility with regulators based on how we manage the Bank are key drivers in most every Board interaction.   I am both fortunate and thankful to be surrounded by a larger staff, each of which have and offer their valuable expertise to me along the way.   Their great skills are a necessary part of every work day.    In the end, I think the CEO role is one of looking downfield, visioning the future, while at the same time understanding what makes the Bank efficient, consistent, and profitable … and the Board is supportive and active in this effort with me.  

How do you stay connected with the bank’s mission and core values in your role?

One key to this is that we meet weekly within our Offices to discuss our organizational mission, and review one of our Core Values as a group.   We engage our entire staff in this weekly meeting, whether it occurs within a particular Office or at the Bank’s Corporate headquarters in Guntersville.   Within Guntersville, for example, we will see almost half or our entire staff once per week as a group, and each week a small “team” of employees (a different group each week) presents and discusses a specific Core Value.   This happens 52 weeks a year.   Some are stories that fit the Core Value of the week, and some can be lively presentations – but the goal is to connect the entire Staff to the Mission of the Bank and our approach to how we Serve.   It’s fun, timely, informational, and most of all insures we are walking the same path toward our view of success -- together.  

What does "community banking" mean to you, and why is it important?

It means engagement in the communities we serve.   It means being involved, active participants.   It means that we raise deposits in the same markets into which we make loans, and do not try to serve from afar like some of our larger Bank competitors attempt to do.   It means we welcome opportunities to talk through ideas with our customers, and provide informed advice when asked.   And, it means we stay engaged with our Schools, and stay attentive to the next generation of customers and leaders, stepping in where help and even mentorship and coaching becomes necessary.   We cannot be the Bank for every instance and every individual, but we can be honest, supportive, and a source of information when we cannot.   I mentioned earlier, we live here, work here, and raise families in the same markets we serve.   It is our duty to contribute and leave it better if we are able.    True community banking demands this.   If we grow our communities, our communities will grow our Bank.   We have a banking system in the United States and economic success that exists in large part because a system of community banking exists.  I don’t think this can be understated.

If you could describe Citizens Bank & Trust in three words, what would they be?    

Engaged, Passionate, Trustworthy

What excites you most about the future of Citizens Bank & Trust?

Citizens Bank & Trust has grown to over $1Billion in Assets is about 20 years.   We started in 2003 to be a Community Bank, built on Christian Values and to serve the communities of North and Northeast Alabama.   A singular mission to serve and grow value for our local base of valued stockholders, and not a mission based on how quickly or to what size we could grow the Bank.   We have, however, been the beneficiary of solid growth, and I think it because of what we represent and how we provide trusted banking services to our customers.   We are not a Bank that was every “built to sell”, rather a Bank built to Serve our markets.   Like most every Bank, the pandemic and high interest rates we have all experienced has not be kind to our industry, but my view of our future is one based in great optimism --- it is very bright.   We have a passionate and engaged staff all pulling the same wagon.   Our original tagline, “The way Banking once was and now is again” is never far from our minds.   We strive every day to provide a banking experience for our customers that generates value, and we have continued to grow because of this.   We have never made an acquisition, and if one day we happen to do so it will be because we see a market that fits our institutional goals and that we can impact positively.    We have an outstanding group, a Bank family for whom we are responsible, succession opportunities, and strategies that are suited to being an engaged and independent Bank through time, and continuing the path we have set is far more exciting than doing anything else.   

About Charlie Williams

Charles A. Williams has served as a director of the Company and the Bank since being appointed as President in May 2015. On April 1, 2017, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank. A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Charlie earned a degree in Finance from Auburn University and began his banking career with Southeast Bank in Miami, Florida in 1981.

His career included positions with Maine National Bank in Portland, Maine; C&S Bank in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Compass Bank in Cullman County; SouthTrust Bank in Madison, Marshall, and Cullman counties; and Wachovia Bank in multiple leadership roles. In 2008, Charlie joined Citizens Bank & Trust in an Executive Management capacity and has called Guntersville home since June 2009.

He has served in numerous civic roles and is committed to strengthening the communities where Citizens Bank & Trust operates.

This feature is part of our Rooted in Community, Driven by Experience series, where we reintroduce our Board of Directors, the leaders shaping the future of Citizens Bank & Trust. As CEO, Charlie Williams’s leadership reflects a deep respect for our culture, a commitment to our values, and a vision for growth that keeps us rooted in the communities we serve. Alongside our dedicated team, Charlie is helping carry forward the legacy and mission that define Citizens Bank & Trust, ensuring we remain strong, independent, and community-focused for generations to come.