The Liberty Bank and Trust Co. board announced that Todd McDonald has been named the bank’s president effective May 2.
Biz New Orleans reports McDonald, 41, will succeed his father and current Liberty President and Chief Executive Officer, Alden J. McDonald Jr., and take over the Black-owned bank with branches in eight states. The younger McDonald joined the bank in 2003, shortly after graduating from Morehouse College, and has held numerous titles during his 19 years with Liberty.
Most recently, McDonald served as the executive vice president of corporate strategy and also has served on Liberty’s Board of Directors since 2017. McDonald’s accomplishments at Liberty include forging national
partnerships that have produced new revenue streams and raising more than $30 million in “tier 1 capital.”In a statement, McDonald said he’s excited about the opportunity the position presents and can’t wait to continue to drive the growth of Liberty.
“I am excited about the opportunity to continue to serve Liberty’s community-focused mission and the legacy of helping people build generational wealth,” Todd McDonald said in a press release.
“I’ve been singularly driven to build solid stakeholder partnerships and evolve financial products which meet the financial needs of an ever-changing world. This next 50 years will be extraordinary as we reshape our culture, talent, and organizational capabilities, which will make us more agile, more competitive, and more effective in our efforts to close the wealth gap in underserved communities across the country.”
Black banks are thriving today after receiving
significant attention during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. Everything from HBCU schools, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft have created partnerships with Black banks.Liberty has recently made moves to support small businesses and partnered with Payrailz, a digital payments company offering smarter, more engaging payment experiences to make payments to and from the bank faster and more efficiently.
Alden McDonald Jr. said in a statement that he was more than proud to hand off the keys to Liberty to his son and is excited to see him grow the bank.
“Todd has the leadership skills, vision, and drive that the Bank needs in these unprecedented times,” Alden McDonald said in a statement.
“I’m excited to see him continue to build a culture and team committed to pushing the bank to new levels. I know that our amazing staff, friends and family will allow him to enjoy the same levels of support and dedication to which I have been privileged for the last fifty years.”