News

Brown named president of Louisiana community bank

January 18, 2006

NEW ORLEANS - J. Michael Brown, former president and chief executive of Innovus Inc., has been named president of First Bank and Trust, a community bank with $650 million in assets.

J. Michael "Mickey" Brown is now president of First Bank and Trust.

According to a news release, Brown has been a member of First Bank's board for the past seven years. Under Brown's leadership, Innovus grew to become one of New Orleans' top 50 privately held companies, and now ranks among the top 10 privately held EFT and ATM-related services companies in the United States. Innovus has more than 18,000 ATMs and processes more than 6 million transactions per month.

In the ATM space, Brown is well-known. In 2005, he and Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Calif.), helped to guide the passage of a bill allowing deployers to surcharge non-domestic cardholders at ATMs in California. That bill went into effect Jan. 1. Brown is now working with Rep. Jennifer Carroll to pass similar legislation in Florida.

Before joining Innovus, Brown was a top executive at the former First Commerce Corp./First NBC, which merged with Bank One.

"Mickey Brown has what it takes to continue the growth of this bank while staying true to our core values of service and integrity," said First Bank board chairman Joseph C. Canizaro. "First Bank and Trust is recognized for its commitment to Louisiana and small businesses."

Founded in 1991, First Bank and Trust is one of the fastest-growing commercial banks in the Gulf South. The Small Business Administration named it the Preferred Lender.

The company expects Brown to expand First Bank's reach into other Louisiana markets.