Retired bank president joins First National as finance chief

First National Corp., the parent company of First Bank, has recruited a former community bank president to be its next chief financial officer, the company said in a press release. 

Brad Schwartz, who retired from TowneBank in December 2022, is set to join Strasberg, Virginia-based First National on March 31. Schwartz, 62, will oversee financial planning, strategy, budgeting, investor relations, account operations and regulatory filings, the release said. In October, First National completed the $47 million acquisition of Touchstone Bankshares, the third such purchase the $2 billion-asset bank has finalized in the past 10 years.

Schwartz will succeed Bruce Thomas, who’s been First National’s interim CFO since former finance chief Shane Bell resigned from the job three months ago. Schwartz, who was named president of TowneBank in 2021, is the former CFO and CEO at Monarch Bank, which was acquired by TowneBank in 2016. He will receive a base salary of $300,000, according to a regulatory filing. —Allissa Kline