At State Bank & Trust Co., Abraham serves as a member of the Board of Directors, a member of the Senior Loan Committee and a member of the bank’s Audit Committee. In addition, Abraham is chairman of the Bolivar County Advisory Board of State Bank & Trust Company.

In making the announcement of Abraham heading the “The Delta Initiative”, Chairman Stewart Brumfield stated, “Our bank was founded in Bolivar County back in 1898 and has been home to us for more than a century. Even though we have grown to become a statewide bank with offices from McComb to Senatobia—and will continue to grow and expand in the years ahead—I have gone back to Bolivar County and appointed one of my most loyal and dedicated board members to personally spearhead the bank’s renewed commitment efforts to the Mississippi Delta.

At a time when others are fearful of the economy and doubtful of the future of the Delta, the bank’s confidence in our home market remains unchanged. We are considering several innovative opportunities and will announce our new strategy at the appropriate time,” Brumfield concluded.

Abraham has been given considerable freedom by the Board’s Chairman to take a fresh look at Delta’s unique economy and demographics in light of present needs. Brumfield takes the position that the relatively large “unbanked” population of the Delta is really composed of people who just simply don’t have a bank account. Perhaps bankers have been trying to put “square pegs in round holes”, says Brumfield.

In accepting his appointment, Abraham said, “We’re going to rethink the delivery system of services, policies, procedures, products, and programs, and set new priorities to meet the needs of this vastly large and diverse population who call the Mississippi Delta their home. Nothing will be sacred about the way banking has been done in past. With The Delta Initiative, everything about banking going forward at State Bank & Trust Company is subject to reconsideration in order to meet the needs of the good people in the communities we serve.

From both an economic and a sociological standpoint, the Delta needs jobs, housing, improved health care and education,” Abraham continued. “Spanning three centuries of experience in the Mississippi Delta, we share both the dreams and the visions of all our neighbors. The Delta Initiative will seek a new approach to banking in the Delta and, to achieve such a goal, we recommit State Bank’s resources and abilities to insure that these visions and dreams become reality. I, personally, would like to become a true ‘virtual banker’, if you will.”

Born and raised in Inverness, MS, Abraham graduated high school from Indianola Academy and then proceeded to Ole Miss. After a stint in Oxford, he returned to the Delta and received a degree in education from Delta State University.

“My family has been in the retail clothing business since the early 1900’s,” Abraham says of his entry into the business world. “My grandfather came from Lebanon as a peddler and lived in Shaw, Ms. My father opened his first store in 1953 in Inverness, so we have a long tradition in the retail business world.”
Even though Abraham contemplated a career in medicine for a while, in 1978 he saw an opportunity to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and Abraham’s Men Shoppe was born. “I looked around and decided that Cleveland really needed a upscale men’s specialty shop,” he says.

Abraham says his involvement with State Bank and Trust, then The Valley Bank, began in 1995. “Stewart Brumfield called me one day and said he had bought controlling interests in the bank and was putting together a group of local investors and wanted to have me on board to eventually evolve into a board of directors,” Abraham recalls.

Abraham is excited about what lies ahead for himself personally and for the ambitious goals that State Bank and Trust has planned for the future. DBJ

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