Home » Longtime Community Trust CEO Jean Hale announces plans to retire

Longtime Community Trust CEO Jean Hale announces plans to retire

Board of directors elects Mark A. Gooch as her successor
Jean R. Hale

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Jean Hale, who has served as chairman, president and CEO of Community Trust Bancorp for 23 years, has announced plans to retire, effective February 2022. The bank’s board of directors has elected  Mark A. Gooch to the position of president, effective immediately. Gooch has served as president and CEO of the company’s primary subsidiary, Community Trust Bank Inc., since July 1999 and will continue to serve in that capacity. Gooch will also succeed Hale as CEO and director. (The director position will be for the remainder of Hale’s unexpired term.)

Hale joined the company in 1969 and progressed through the officer ranks and in 1992 at the age of 45, was named president and CEO of Community Trust Bank. She became president and CEO of Community Trust Bancorp in 1999 and chairman in 2005. During her tenure, the company’s total assets increased 152% from $2.2 billion at December 31, 1999, to $5.5 billion at June 30, 2021. During her 52 years of service, the company has grown total assets from $25 million to $5.5 billion and had 41 years of consecutive increases in cash dividends.

Mark Gooch
Mark Gooch

Gooch joined the company in 1987 with the first acquisition made by Community Trust Bancorp Inc. (formerly known as Pikeville National Corp.). He served as president of that subsidiary until all bank subsidiaries were merged into Community Trust Bank Inc. in 1997, at which time he came to the corporate office as executive vice president/operations. In 1999, Gooch was named president and CEO of Community Trust Bank Inc.

Community Trust Bancorp Inc. is headquartered in Pikeville and has 70 banking locations across eastern, northeastern, central, and south-central Kentucky; six banking locations in southern West Virginia; three banking locations in northeastern Tennessee; four trust offices across Kentucky; and one trust office in Tennessee.

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