TUPELO, Miss., Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BancorpSouth, Inc.
(NYSE: BXS) today announced the Company's Board of Directors has
nominated Deborah M. Cannon of
Houston, Texas for election as a
director of BancorpSouth at the annual meeting of shareholders
scheduled for April 22, 2015. Cannon
serves as President and CEO of the Houston Zoo, Inc., and is a
former Executive Vice President of Bank of America.
Dan Rollins, BancorpSouth
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commenting on Cannon's
nomination for election, said, "BancorpSouth is extremely proud to
have this highly respected business and public service leader stand
for election to the BancorpSouth Board of Directors."
Hassell Franklin, BancorpSouth
Lead Director and Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate
Governance Committees, added, "We are pleased that Deborah Cannon, upon her election to the board,
will be providing her business acumen, leadership and counsel to
BancorpSouth."
Cannon has served as President and CEO of the Houston Zoo, Inc.
since 2005. The Houston Zoo is a 55-acre zoological park located
within Houston's Hermann Park. The zoo houses over 6,000 animals
as part of over 900 species the zoo has to offer, and is the tenth
most visited zoo in the United
States.
Since joining the Houston Zoo, two and a half years following
its privatization, Cannon has focused on bringing a business
approach to the zoo. Under her leadership, the zoo has increased
attendance from 1.4 million to approximately 2.4 million, increased
revenues from $16 million to
approximately $43 million, and has
experienced a membership increase fourfold to over 58 thousand
households. Under Cannon's leadership, the zoo has invested
approximately $140 million in capital
improvements.
Prior to being recruited to bring a business focus to the
Houston Zoo, Cannon served 30 years with Bank of America in a range
of management positions. She began her career at Republic
National Bank of Dallas, a
predecessor company to what later became Bank of America. She held
14 different positions; all of which involved lending and managing
groups of relationship managers in local, regional, national and
international regions.
Assignments at Bank of America included leading the operations
of the bank's offices in Brazil,
Argentina and Chile. In the U.S., Cannon led the Midwest
region for the Corporate Bank, and started a new division for
affluent individuals which ultimately became a major nationwide
focus for the national enterprise. Her final area of responsibility
was for the Business Banking unit in 10 states, from Texas to Nevada to Illinois, including more than 50 offices with
loans of $3 billion and deposits of
more than $4 billion. At the same
time, she served as President for the Houston region, which included significant
community and civic leadership initiatives. Prior to branch banking
being approved in Texas, Cannon
served as president of several smaller banks; she also led a group
of seven banks with total assets in excess of $2 billion.
Cannon attended Georgetown
University and graduated from Southern
Methodist University with a BBA and a major in finance.
Active in community service, she has served on more than 16
nonprofit boards. These include Memorial Hermann Health System
where she serves on the finance, quality and governance committees,
and chairs the Children's advisory board. She formerly chaired the
hospital system board and finance committee. Her community service
also includes the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, YMCA of
Greater Houston and MD
Anderson Board of Advisors.
As a leader in economic development, she was the first woman
Chair of the Greater Houston Partnership, and also chaired the
economic development and strategic planning committees.
Prior to moving to Houston,
Cannon served on and chaired the Visiting Nurses Association board;
the largest home health agency in Dallas. She chaired the North Texas Women's
Business Council, and she was the founding chair of the Women's
Business Enterprise National Council, which provides for national
certifications for women owned businesses.
BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered
in Tupelo, Mississippi, with
$13.3 billion in assets. BancorpSouth
Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc., operates
approximately 300 commercial banking, mortgage, and insurance
locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in
Illinois. "Like" us on Facebook;
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SOURCE BancorpSouth, Inc.