Community Bankers Association of Oklahoma President/CEO Elected to ICBA Mortgage Board of Directors

ICBA Mortgage, a subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), has elected Craig Buford, president and CEO of the Community Bankers Association of Oklahoma (CBAO), to its board of directors.

'Craig is the first ICBA State/Regional partner to join the ICBA Mortgage board and as such will give a voice to community bankers in Oklahoma,' said Dave Petro, ICBA Mortgage president and CEO.

Buford became president and CEO of CBAO in 2003. Since joining the association he has increased its membership by 50 percent and actively lobbies at the state and national levels on behalf of Oklahoma’s community banks. Prior to joining CBAO, Buford was senior vice president of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas. He also worked as a community banker for many years, serving as president of American Bank of Texas in Sherman, Tex.; and executive vice president, chief lending officer and director of Bonham State Bank in Bonham, Tex.

Buford has a long history of community involvement having served on the Grayson County College Foundation, the Bonham Chamber of Commerce and the Bonham Rotary Club. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University Graduate School of Banking and Texas Christian University.

Learn more about ICBA and ICBA Mortgage at www.icba.org.

About ICBA

The Independent Community Bankers of America, the nation’s voice for community banks, represents nearly 5,000 community banks of all sizes and charter types throughout the United States and is dedicated exclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry and the communities and customers we serve. For more information, visit www.icba.org.