First Citizens Bank has named two new area executives in South Carolina and Georgia. Justin Rice will oversee the South Carolina Lowcountry region, as well as Savannah, GA, and JP Connell will be responsible for the Charleston, S.C. region and surrounding area. Both will lead business, commercial and branch banking operations, serving clients and managing teams in their respective regions.
“The Southern coastal economy continues to grow across diversified industries, and more than ever, clients in the region are looking to us for expertise and advice to successfully navigate their unique financial challenges,” Shan Teel, South regional executive vice president for First Citizens Bank, said. “These appointments reflect a continued focus on these areas and on our efforts to build out the teams. Both Justin and JP have deep ties to the region and share a strong commitment to their community. We are thrilled to have two new leaders that take a relationship-based, client-centered approach to deliver on a wide variety of financial needs for our client base.”
Rice has been serving the Lowcountry market for nearly 20 years, having first joined First Citizens Bank in Columbia, S.C., in 2006, before moving to Hilton Head, S.C., in 2009. Since 2015, he has been the market executive for the Lowcountry, overseeing four branches and corresponding business banking efforts for those branches. Rice is the current chairman of the University of South Carolina Education Foundation and serves on the board of both the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and the Hilton Head Regional Habitat for Humanity. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Connell began his career at First Citizens Bank in 2018 at the bank’s Denver offices, and later became a national sales team leader for the company’s cannabis banking business, where he was an integral part of developing and growing a de novo vertical for First Citizens Bank. Mostly recently, Connell served as the business banking manager for the bank’s Southern Coastal area. He earned an MBA from the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina in 2022 and a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina.
