Colony Bankcorp, Inc., the bank holding company for Colony Bank, today announced the appointment of R. Dallis “D” Copeland, Jr. as Special Advisor. In this newly-created position working closely with Colony’s executive team, Copeland will utilize his extensive banking and executive leadership experience to provide insight on corporate planning and strategic decision making as well as customer relationship building and talent acquisition.

Copeland joins Colony after a 27-year career at Synovus Financial Corporation, a Columbus, GA-based financial services company with over $45 billion in assets. At Synovus, he served in positions of increasing responsibility where he developed deep banking industry experience and relationships in markets across the Southeast.

Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Community Banking Officer. In this position, he led Synovus’ banking operations for 28 bank divisions across the company’s five-state footprint. During his tenure at Synovus, he was a member of the Executive Committee and reported directly to the Chairman and CEO from 2009 – 2019. He also held the title of Chief Banking Officer, where he was responsible for all banking services including Corporate, Commercial Real Estate, Retail, Private Wealth, Treasury Management, Credit Card, Marketing and Special Assets. Copeland recently served on the Executive Committee of the University System of Georgia Foundation. He earned his B.S. in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Commenting on the announcement, Heath Fountain, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our focus areas for driving high performance are achieving strong growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions, increasing operating efficiency, growing non-interest income, and seizing on opportunities to acquire customers and talent in logical and contiguous markets. With over two decades of banking experience, D has a wealth of knowledge in all these areas and his insight and expertise will prove invaluable as we continue our mission to build a high-performing community bank. I am excited to welcome D to our organization and look forward to working with him as we continue to grow.”