Mitchell “Mitch” Hunt, is a seasoned financial services executive and corporate director with more than 43 years of leadership experience spanning community banking, large regional institutions, corporate governance, capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, enterprise risk management, regulatory relations, and shareholder communications. Throughout his career, Mitch has combined the perspective of an operator, entrepreneur, strategist, and board member, giving him a distinctive ability to understand both the opportunities executives pursue and the oversight responsibilities directors must uphold. His leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that enduring organizations are built by aligning purpose, strategy, talent, disciplined execution, and responsible governance.
Mitch’s career reflects a steady progression through increasingly significant leadership roles within the banking industry. Over the course of more than four decades, he served in market, regional, divisional, and chief executive positions, developing an extensive understanding of commercial banking, small business lending, credit, mortgage lending, portfolio management, and enterprise-wide financial strategy. His executive experience includes leadership roles with SouthState Bank, CenterState Bank, FirstAtlantic Bank, SouthTrust Bank, Wachovia Bank, and SunTrust Bank. From 1987 through his retirement in 2024, Mitch consistently held presidential-level leadership responsibilities, demonstrating an ability to guide organizations, teams, and markets through changing economic cycles and evolving competitive environments.
One of the defining chapters of Mitch’s career began in 2007, when he co-founded FirstAtlantic Bank in Jacksonville, Florida. Serving as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of both the bank and its holding company, he helped build the organization from the ground up and led it for more than a decade. The launch required both strategic vision and disciplined execution, beginning with the successful raising of approximately $35 million in equity capital. Mitch cultivated support from individual investors, including friends and family, while also securing institutional participation through Raymond James, demonstrating an early ability to communicate a compelling investment thesis and build confidence among sophisticated stakeholders.
As FirstAtlantic evolved, Mitch demonstrated his willingness to challenge assumptions and reposition the organization when market realities required a different course. He led a revision of the original mortgage-centric business plan, shifting the bank toward serving small and mid-sized businesses while simultaneously pursuing opportunities to acquire other community banks. That decision helped broaden the institution’s capabilities and created a platform for scalable growth. His experience in commercial banking and lending allowed him to understand the needs of business owners firsthand, while his executive leadership background enabled him to translate that understanding into a broader strategic direction for the organization.
Mergers and acquisitions became another important dimension of Mitch’s leadership. He led due diligence teams in the evaluation of more than 20 potential acquisition targets and personally negotiated the terms of four bank acquisitions, including the acquisition of a failed institution from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Beyond transaction execution, he also led merger integration efforts, helping ensure that acquired organizations were successfully incorporated into FirstAtlantic’s operating structure, culture, and strategic plan. This combination of transactional experience and post-deal integration expertise gives Mitch a particularly valuable perspective for boards evaluating acquisitions, partnerships, strategic alternatives, and other transformative initiatives.
Mitch also possesses extensive experience in capital strategy, investor relations, and public-market readiness. In 2011, FirstAtlantic completed a second capital raise that brought a private equity firm into the organization as a minority, non-controlling shareholder with a 24.9 percent ownership position. He later guided the company from private ownership into a public-market presence through a listing on the OTCQX markets, while managing shareholder communications and relationships throughout the process. These experiences strengthened his understanding of the expectations of institutional investors, private shareholders, boards, regulators, and executive teams and reinforced the importance of transparency, accountability, and disciplined governance.
The culmination of Mitch’s leadership at FirstAtlantic came through a successful strategic exit. Working with an investment banking partner, he and his leadership team evaluated potential exit strategies and ultimately positioned the company for sale. FirstAtlantic was sold for approximately $116 million, representing 189 percent of tangible book value and placing the transaction among the stronger bank valuations of its year. The transaction closed on January 1, 2018, marking the successful transition of an institution Mitch had helped create, capitalize, grow, acquire, govern, and ultimately sell. His experience across the entire lifecycle of the organization—from startup and capital formation through acquisitions, public-market participation, and strategic sale—provides a rare and highly practical perspective for corporate board service.
Following the FirstAtlantic transaction, Mitch continued serving the banking industry in senior leadership roles. He served as President of FirstAtlantic Bank as a division of National Bank of Commerce, later became Community President with CenterState Bank, and subsequently held Regional President and First Coast Division President positions with SouthState Bank in Jacksonville. These roles expanded his already deep experience managing markets, developing teams, serving clients, overseeing lending and financial performance, and navigating organizational change within larger banking platforms. His ability to operate successfully in both entrepreneurial community-bank settings and complex regional institutions demonstrates adaptability and a broad understanding of how different organizational structures create value.
Corporate governance and enterprise risk management have been constant themes throughout Mitch’s career. Banking is one of the most highly regulated industries in the economy, and Mitch has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies while balancing growth objectives with capital capacity, credit discipline, financial controls, compliance, stakeholder expectations, and long-term risk. Having served as both CEO and director, he understands the importance of a board’s responsibility to provide oversight without unnecessarily encroaching on management’s role. He believes strong directors bring informed judgment, ask thoughtful and sometimes difficult questions, support leadership when appropriate, and ensure that strategy remains aligned with the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders.
Mitch’s board experience extends beyond his corporate banking responsibilities. He served on the boards of FirstAtlantic Bank and FirstAtlantic Financial Holdings and has also contributed his leadership to community and nonprofit organizations. He served as Vice Chair of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Central and North Florida Chapter from 2020 through 2022 and remains engaged in community service through Rotary Club board involvement. These experiences reflect a broader commitment to stewardship, service, and civic responsibility and demonstrate his belief that leadership carries obligations beyond financial performance alone.
Mitch earned both an MBA and a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business after completing an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. His formal education provided a foundation in finance and business, while his decades of operating experience have given him practical expertise across commercial lending, small business lending, credit analysis, consumer lending, asset-based lending, mortgage lending, treasury management, portfolio management, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and enterprise risk. He has also presented at investment conferences and large organizational meetings, strengthening his ability to communicate complex financial and strategic issues to varied audiences.
Now retired from full-time banking leadership, Mitch is intentionally pursuing opportunities to contribute his experience in a board and advisory capacity. He brings the benefit of time, perspective, and a career spent working with organizations of different sizes, ownership structures, and stages of development. He is particularly interested in opportunities where his banking, finance, governance, transaction, and risk expertise can help leadership teams make better decisions, strengthen oversight, pursue thoughtful growth, and prepare for significant transitions. His approach to board service is not simply to observe, but to contribute constructively through preparation, sound judgment, thoughtful challenge, and an unwavering focus on long-term value creation.
At the center of Mitch’s leadership philosophy is a commitment to building organizations that care for people while still producing superior results. He believes sustainable competitive advantage emerges when an organization’s mission, strategy, talent, culture, and execution reinforce one another and when leaders earn the trust of shareholders, employees, customers, regulators, and communities. Away from the boardroom, Mitch values time with his children and grandchildren and enjoys hiking, sailing, golf, and snow skiing. These personal interests reflect a life shaped not only by professional achievement, but also by family, relationships, recreation, and a continuing appreciation for balance and perspective.
Character:
Mitch exemplifies character through a leadership career grounded in accountability, stewardship, integrity, and responsibility to the people and institutions entrusted to his care. His commitment to community service, thoughtful governance, and stakeholder trust reflects a belief that strong leadership is measured not only by results, but also by how those results are achieved.
Knowledge:
He brings more than four decades of deep financial services expertise encompassing banking, lending, credit, capital formation, acquisitions, regulatory relations, shareholder communications, governance, and enterprise risk management. His experience across both entrepreneurial and large-institution environments enables him to understand financial and operational issues from multiple perspectives and translate complex challenges into practical guidance.
Strategic:
Mitch has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to assess changing conditions, refine business models, evaluate acquisitions, raise capital, integrate organizations, and guide companies through major transitions. His experience taking FirstAtlantic from startup through growth, acquisitions, public-market participation, and ultimately a successful strategic sale illustrates his capacity to connect long-term vision with disciplined execution.
Communication:
An experienced communicator who has worked extensively with boards, investors, shareholders, regulators, executives, employees, and business clients throughout his career. His presentation experience at investment conferences and large meetings, combined with decades of senior leadership, allows him to communicate complex financial and strategic issues clearly, confidently, and constructively.
