Synovus, the parent company of Sea Island Bank in Statesboro and Savannah, announced last week the promotion of Darron Burnette to Synovus Division CEO.
        Burnette's responsibilities will now expand to leading Synovus operations throughout southeast Georgia and the northeast Florida region, which includes Sea Island Bank.
        Corporately, Synovus is dividing the management of the 28 Synovus owned banks into seven divisions. As one of the seven Synovus division leaders, Burnette's division includes operations led out of Statesboro, Savannah, Brunswick and Jacksonville.
        He served previously as president and CEO of Sea Island Bank, leading operations in Statesboro and Savannah. Burnette has been with the Synovus and Sea Island bank family for nearly 15 years and will continue to serve as CEO of Sea Island Bank.
        Even though his leadership role in Statesboro will change, he is not leaving Statesboro and will continue to serve his clients here locally. Also, Burnette will continue to be actively involved civically in the Blue Mile project, Alzheimer's, Georgia Southern, Bulloch Academy, OTC, Rotary and numerous other community activities.
        In order to allow Burnette to focus on his larger division leadership role, Chad Wiggins was promoted to market president for Statesboro. In his new role, Wiggins will lead the day-to-day operations of Sea Island Bank in Statesboro. Wiggins previously served as a Sea Island Bank commercial banking manager.
        Wiggins has been with Sea Island serving the Statesboro community for more than 20 years. He is the current president of the Downtown Statesboro Rotary Club, president of the Statesboro High School Quarterback Club, president of the Statesboro High School Baseball Boosters, finance chair of Goodwill of Southeast Georgia and board member of Connection Church.
        "Thanks to strong leaders stepping up who are already serving in my leadership circle like Chad, Brad Sheffield, senior vice president of retail banking and Statesboro native Ken Rabitsch serving as Savannah's Market President we are very strong operationally," Burnette said. "In addition, we have strong market presidents in Brunswick and Jacksonville who will continue to lead those operations. Together, with these leaders and a wonderful team of bankers and support staff, we will continue to see enhanced customer experiences and growth in all of our markets."
        In addition to the Blue Mile project, Burnette is well known for his fundraising work with his friend Chandler Dennard for research to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Burnette's mother, Miriam, died from Alzheimer's.
        In her honor, Burnette and Dennard developed a popular softball tournament, "Striking out Alzheimer's" and a concert "Rockin' out Alzheimer's." Over the past five years these two events have raised collectively more than $225,000 for Alzheimer's research.
        "I am excited about this new opportunity," Burnette said. "I want to stress to my clients and the community that I will continue to live in Statesboro and remain active in this community that I love so much. I expect to spend half of my time focused on Statesboro developing new business and servicing my clients. The balance of my time will be spent overseeing the other markets in my division."