Iron Mountain, Mich.-based First National Bank & Trust announced that Russell Kassin has been named president as the bank transitions its leadership.
Kassin succeeds David Kashian as the 10th president in the bank’s 135-year history. Kashian, who has been president since 2005, will continue to serve as chair and CEO until next year. Kassin, who joined First National Bank & Trust a decade ago, was promoted to senior vice president and chief lending officer in 2018 and to executive vice president and chief lending officer last year. He was appointed to the board of directors in February. He has held positions at Lincoln Financial and Wells Fargo.
Kassin graduated from Northern Michigan University, Marquette, with a personal finance degree, in addition to graduating from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has received Series 7 and Series 66 health and life insurance licenses and been designated as a Certified Financial Planner.
“Our goal during this period is to make this transition to the next generation of leadership as seamless and transparent as possible for all of our stakeholders,” Kashian said. “(Kassin) is an outstanding choice as my successor and the board of directors and I are confident in his ability to lead this outstanding and highly successful organization for many decades to come.”