MidSouth Bancorp in Lafayette, La., has ousted Rusty Cloutier, its longtime president and CEO.
The $1.9 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it had also removed Troy Cloutier as president and CEO of its bank. Troy Cloutier, Rusty Cloutier’s son, had been
MidSouth said the departures were “part of a transition plan already under way to improve” its performance.
Industry observers, however, had suggested for years that MidSouth would be an unlikely seller as long as Cloutier, 70, was its CEO. The company's stock, meanwhile, jumped more than 10% by mid-afternoon trading, topping $16 a share.
Jim McLemore, MidSouth’s chief financial officer, was named interim president and CEO for the company and the bank.
The board “is fully supportive of … McLemore in his immediate endeavors as president and CEO,” Jake Delhomme, MidSouth’s chairman and a former professional football player, said in the release.
MidSouth also noted that it had hired Erin DeWitt, a former chief risk officer at Scottrade Financial Services, to fill the same post. Kade Peterson, previously chief operating officer at USAmeriBank, was hired as chief information officer.
The company said in a separate press release that its first-quarter earnings fell 13% from a year earlier to $1.6 million. Noninterest expenses rose by 3% while revenue was relatively flat.
Rusty Cloutier declined to comment his departure, though he said he is still supportive of the company.
Midsouth's annual meeting is set for May 24.
