News

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Dr. Craig McAllister, Dean of the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College, Joins BankFIRST Board of Directors

February 18, 2004 - Winter Park, Florida

James T. Barnes, Jr., Chairman of BankFIRST, announced today that Dr. Craig McAllaster, dean of the Roy E. Crummer School of Business at Rollins College, has been appointed to the BankFIRST Board of Directors.

"Craig McAllaster has a reputation for building bridges between the business community throughout Central Florida and the academic community," Barnes said. "He understands the practical challenges that the owners of small and mid-sized businesses face and he is tapped into the latest thinking about how business owners can solve those problems. All of these qualities make Dr. McAllaster an ideal addition to the BankFIRST board and we're thrilled to welcome him to the BankFIRST family."

Dr. McAllaster became dean of the Crummer School on July 1, 2000. Prior to that, he served for six years as assistant dean and director of the school's executive and professional MBA programs. From 1995 to 1999, he also served as director of Crummer's global business consulting practicum program.

Dr. McAllaster's background spans industry and academia. He spent more than a decade in the consumer services and electronics industry in management, organizational and executive development programs. He has served on the faculty at the ILR School at Cornell University and the University of Central Florida. While at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, he taught executive development programs and was the Director of Executive Education. At the University of Central Florida, Dr. McAllaster established, directed and taught in the EMBA program.

Dr. McAllaster earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and his master's degree from Alfred University, where his thesis focused on the performance of companies after acquisition. He earned his doctorate degree at Columbia University where his dissertation concentrated on assessing the value of management programs in changing company environments.

A frequent visiting faculty member and guest speaker in many university and corporate executive programs, Dr. McAllaster has spoken and published often concerning influence, leadership, consulting skills and changing organizational structure.

Established in 1957, the Crummer School was recently ranked by Forbes magazine among the nation's top 25 regional business schools for the quality of its full-time MBA program. Rollins College is Florida's oldest recognized college and is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report among Florida's best colleges.