SWFL bank president, market exec announces retirement

Longtime Crews Bank & Trust leader Craig DeYoung, who started with the bank more than 30 years ago, has announced his retirement as area president for the $2.3 billion bank’s Southwest Florida market.  

Kelly Louke, who has been with the bank for 28 years, will succeed DeYoung in the role, the Wauchula-based bank says in a statement.

“Craig DeYoung’s leadership has left a lasting mark on the bank and the communities it serves,” Crews Chief Banking Officer M.W. “Larry” McLaren IV says in the statement. “He consistently reflected the organization’s values through his integrity, stewardship and commitment to service. His example will continue to influence the bank well into the future. At the same time, I am confident in Kelly Louke as DeYoung’s successor. Her deep institutional knowledge, strong community ties and proven ability to build relationships and develop talent make her the right person to carry that legacy forward.”

DeYoung oversaw significant growth for the bank in the past decade. That includes opening loan-production offices in Lee and Collier counties in 2015 and 2016, respectively; opening a satellite office at South Port Square in Port Charlotte in 2016; and opening of a full-service branch in North Port in 2017. He also supervised numerous advances in products and services designed to make banking more convenient and rewarding to customers, including a home-based, locally staffed Trust and Wealth division, the bank says. 

A Charlotte County native and a 1980 graduate of Charlotte High School, DeYoung worked in a lumber yard and for a cabinet company before pursuing a career indoors.

“I applied for my first banking position after hearing about it from a teacher,” DeYoung says in the release. “Working in an office sounded like a great deal after working in the Florida heat.”

He worked for two local banks and in 1994 he joined Charlotte State Bank & Trust, a legacy bank of Crews Bank & Trust, as a commercial real estate lender. He advanced to executive vice president and chief lending officer and was named bank president in 2006. In his most recent role, he served as market area president for Southwest Florida under Crews Bank & Trust, after the institution rebranded.

Beyond the bank, DeYoung has been a constant presence in the community, the release states, A graduate of Leadership Charlotte, he has been a member of the Kiwanis Club for nearly four decades, earning the Kiwanis President’s Award in 2012 and the International Legion of Honor Award in 2016, the release states. 

Crews Bank also recently named Todd Rinehart its top executive for the Lee County market.