MCALESTER, Okla. – Arvest Bank is pleased to announce that Vic Wheeler has succeeded Gene Walker as president of Arvest Bank McAlester-Eufaula.
The move was effective Feb. 14.
“Vic Wheeler is well-known and well-respected not just as a banker, but as a servant leader in our community. I look forward to working with him during a brief period of transition, and know that he will do great things here at Arvest.”
Gene Walker
Walker, the bank’s market president since it acquired Superior Bank in 2003, will retire effective April 30.
Wheeler comes to Arvest from First National Bank & Trust Co. of McAlester, where he has worked since 2007, most recently as senior vice president. During that time, Wheeler graduated from both the Oklahoma Bankers Association’s commercial lending school, where he was an honors graduate, and the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado.
Wheeler, whose father and grandfather were bankers in Stroud, earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Oklahoma State University (OSU). He was elected student body president during his time at OSU, and also interned for both former United States Sen. Don Nickles and Kerr-McGee.
Prior to entering the banking industry, Wheeler worked as a high school teacher and coach in Houston, Pawnee and McAlester. Wheeler currently serves as a member of the McAlester Public Schools Board of Education, and his other civic involvement includes work with the Pittsburg County Habitat for Humanity, McAlester Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of McAlester, and Boys & Girls Club of McAlester.
Wheeler and his wife live in McAlester with their two children and are active members of Life Church.