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Headshot of Laura Johnson, facing the camera in a red blouse and black blazer.

First Freedom’s Laura Johnson Graduates Advanced Banking School

Written by Sarah Poss on . Posted in Bank News, Press Releases.

Paul W. Barret, Jr. Graduate School of Banking in Memphis, Tennessee recently announced the graduation of Laura Johnson, Senior Vice President, Information Security Officer and Deposit Operations Manager.

The school was held on the campus of Christian Brothers University in Memphis. Paul W. Barret, Jr. Graduate School of Banking has been providing advanced banking education for fifty-one years, with a curriculum designed to provide a high degree of understanding of all commercial banking functions. During the three-year program, graduates received in excess of 130 hours of instruction and prepared in-depth reports in eight areas of study. There were 246 financial industry professionals from thirty states participating in the 2023 session.

Johnson has twenty-four years of banking experience, compounded by a specialized education revolving around bank automation, money laundering, and information security.  Johnson holds the Accredited ACH Professional certification (AAP) from the National Automatic Clearing House Association (NACHA) and the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist certification (CAMS) from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. She holds a General Banking Diploma and a Bank Operations Diploma from The American Bankers Association.

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First Freedom Ranked Top Performing Bank in Tennessee

Written by Sarah Poss on . Posted in Bank News, Press Releases.

First Freedom Bank was recently acknowledged as the top performing bank in Tennessee for 2022 by independent firm Financial Management Consulting Group (FMC). FMC utilizes public call report data submitted to the FDIC which is designed to collect financial data in the form of a balance sheet, income statement and supporting schedules. The Report of Condition schedules provide details on assets, liabilities, and capital accounts while the Report of Income schedules provide details on income and expenses. The state of Tennessee had 125 banks in the analysis.

FMC has been analyzing bank performance for 25 years and computes the rankings on a quarterly basis for 42 states. W. Timothy Finn, Principal of FMC, explains his firm utilizes eight key measurements in their analysis and stack ranks all banks in each of the categories. They then average the category rankings to stack rank the banks for overall performance. “It’s quite a task to get the top spot in overall performance,” said Finn, “First Freedom is to be commended for this significant accomplishment.”

John Lancaster, Chairman and CEO of First Freedom, stated, “We are honored to be recognized by FMC in this way. We have followed their analytical work for years and appreciate the transparency in their approach. These results are a testament to our thriving communities, our focused board, and our dedicated employees.”

 First Freedom Bank, headquartered in Wilson County, was established in 2006. A full service, community bank, First Freedom Bank offers personal and commercial banking services from six locations in Wilson, Putnam and Jackson Counties, and has approximately 70 employees. First Freedom Bank has assets in excess of $600 million and is owned by approximately 1,000 shareholders throughout Middle Tennessee. First Freedom Bank is a member of the Better Business Bureau, an Equal Housing Lender, and Member FDIC. Additionally, First Freedom has earned the prestigious Five Star rating by Bauer Financial, the nation’s leading independent bank and credit union rating firm.