Executive Team

Mr. Custer has been a director and Chief Executive Officer of VantageSouth Bank and Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. since November 2011. He has served as a director and Chief Executive Officer of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, Inc. since 2010. Before joining Piedmont, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RBC Bank (USA), a position he held since 2004. An active member of the community, Mr. Custer is on the boards of trustees for the College of William and Mary and William Peace University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from the College of William and Mary.

Mr. Earley has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. since February 2012, and VantageSouth Bank since March 2012. He is also CFO of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, Inc., a position he has held since 2011. Prior to joining Piedmont, Mr. Earley served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Mountain Bank and Rocky Mountain Capital, located in Jackson, Wyoming, in 2010, and as CFO of Bancorp of the Southeast, LLC, located in Ponte Vedra, Florida, in 2009. Mr. Earley served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of RBC Bank (USA), which he joined in 1992. As CFO of VantageSouth, he is responsible for the implementation of financial strategies, including investment management, financial accounting and reporting, and he oversees the technology and operational functions of the Bank. A leader in his community, Mr. Earley is a member of First Baptist Church and is a former board member of Faith Christian School, Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in business administration.

Steve W. Jones
President of VantageSouth Bank

Mr. Jones has been President of VantageSouth Bank since 2010. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Jones served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of First American Financial Management Company, a proposed bank holding company. Prior to that, Mr. Jones spent over 10 years working at RBC Bank (USA) in a variety of leadership roles, including President (Carolinas and Virginia), President (Personal and Business Banking), Regional President (Florida Personal and Business Banking) and Regional Manager (Personal and Business Banking – Eastern Sandhills Region). Mr. Jones is responsible for VantageSouth’s businesses, including commercial banking, retail banking, government lending and the mortgage division. He is a member of the Triangle board of the American Heart Association and currently serves on the board of trustees for East Carolina University, where he received his bachelor’s degree.

Mr. Roberts has been Chief Operating Officer of VantageSouth Bank and Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. since 2011. He has served as a Managing Director of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, Inc. since 2010. Prior to joining Piedmont, Mr. Roberts was a partner at Cherokee Investment Partners, LLC, a private equity firm, and was previously with Morgan Stanley & Co., an investment bank and broker-dealer, in London and New York. At VantageSouth Bank, Mr. Roberts oversees corporate strategy and M&A, as well as risk management, credit, legal, compliance and human resources. He serves on the boards of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, the Duke Alumni Association, the Community Investment Corporation of the Carolinas and Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a J.D. from Georgetown University.

A. Dwight Utz
Chairman of the Board of VantageSouth Bank

Mr. Utz became Chairman of the Board of VantageSouth Bank effective April 1, 2013 and was appointed President of Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. on April 30, 2013. Prior to joining VantageSouth Bank, Mr. Utz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ECB and The East Carolina Bank since July 2009. He has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Retail Officer for MidSouth Bancorp, a bank holding company headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, from 2001 until 2009. From 1995 to 2000 he was employed as a corporate Vice President of PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previously, he was employed from 1972 to 1995 by CCNB Bank N.A., Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where he held senior management positions and last served as Senior Vice President/Regional Market Executive. Mr. Utz has 39 years banking experience.