Ameris Bank Chief Credit Officer Jon Edwards recently announced the expansion of the company’s Credit Administrative Division with the promotion of Dave Mandel and hire of Mike Gifford. Both Mandel and Gifford will serve as regional credit officers.

Mandel has been named regional credit officer with primary oversight of the credit underwriting, monitoring and reporting pertaining to Ameris Bank’s Mortgage Division. He will be based in Savannah, Ga. where he is currently a member of the commercial lending team. Prior to joining Ameris Bank, he served in several roles with The Coastal Bank including commercial lender and special assets manager. He was recently honored by the Small Business Assistance Corporation as the 2016 Small Business Lender of the Year. After earning his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Loyola University, Mandel attended ABA Stonier National Graduate School of Banking for professional development in bank financial management.

In making this announcement, Edwards stated “The Ameris Bank Mortgage Division has become a major component of the company’s overall loan portfolio. Dave’s ability to grow his own loan portfolio in a profitable, safe and sound manner is the experience and expertise we need as we continue to expand our quickly growing Mortgage Division.”

Gifford has joined Ameris Bank in the role of regional credit officer. Based in Jacksonville, Fl., Mike will provide credit support for our teams in the Northwest Florida and Southeast Coastal Georgia. Gifford has 33 years of banking experience, and comes to Ameris Bank from Wells Fargo, where he worked for the past 23 years. He served in several roles with Wells Fargo, most recently as senior examiner in their Risk Asset Review Division.  Prior to that role, he was the community risk director for the Florida Community Banking Segment, where he provided credit oversight to the approximately $730 million Community Bank Portfolio, which consisted of markets throughout Central Florida and the Panhandle.  Mike is a graduate of the University of Florida and Louisiana State University’s Graduate School of Banking.

Edwards further commented, “Mike is an outstanding addition to our credit administration team. His seasoned background, expansive knowledge and understanding of the credit environment in these markets will allow us to safely and soundly grow our lending portfolio.”