MERCANTILE BANK MAKES CHANGES IN CAPE, PERRYVILLE

Craig E. Wells has been named community bank president of Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri-Cape Girardeau.

Wells will assume the position Nov. 1, following the retirement of bank president O.J. "Ollie" Miller.

Miller, who has more than 38 years of banking experience, retires after 24 years with Mercantile. He started his banking career at Southern Commercial Bank in St. Louis. Ten years later, in 1969, he helped organize a bank at Creve Coeur. He joined Mercantile in 1972.

In another Mercantile announcement, John A. Davis has been named president of the Mercantile Bank at Perryville. He assumed his new position Thursday, replacing Joseph M. Crenshaw, who has been named president of Mercantile Bank of St. Charles County.

The three appointments were announced recently by Melvin D. "Butch" Brown, president and chief executive officer of Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri. The two banks are among eight that comprise Mercantile Bank of Southeast, headquartered in Poplar Bluff.

Wells has been in Cape Girardeau since 1992. He has been active in civic organizations, including serving as a board member for the Area Wide United Way Campaign and as a member of the Small Business Committee for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

A native of Joplin, he joined Mercantile Bank of St. Louis in 1985 as assistant vice president responsible for direct lending to middle market companies. He transferred to Mercantile Bank of Springfield as senior vice president in charge of commercial lending and credit analysis.

Wells transferred to Cape Girardeau as executive vice president, responsible for all Cape Girardeau loan, compliance, credit analysis and data processing.

Wells received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and has a master's degree in business and public administration form Cornell University in New York.

Davis, who has been with Mercantile of Batesville, Ark., since 1987, has served as chairman, president and CEO of the Batesville operation since 1992.

Davis received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas. He is also a graduate of the Institute of Finance Management and the National Commercial Loan School, University of Oklahoma.

Crenshaw, a native of Sikeston, most recently served as president of Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri-Perryville. Prior to that he was executive vice president and senior lender of Mercantile Bank of the Mineral Area at Farmington. Before joining Mercantile, he was executive vice president of Landmark Bank of St. Charles County.

Crenshaw received a bachelor's degree in banking and finance at the University of Mississippi-Oxford, and is a graduate of the University of Colorado Graduate School of Banking.

Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri is an affiliate of St. Louis-based Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., an $18 billion multibank holding company operating banks in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas.