PASCAGOULA, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2025--
Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. (OTCQX: MNMB) and its wholly owned subsidiary Merchants & Marine Bank proudly announce Board leadership changes following the Company’s 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting held on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
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Clayton Legear, who has served as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Company, the Bank, and its Family of Brands since 2019, has been elected Chairman of the Board of both the Company and the Bank. Legear succeeds Royce Cumbest in this role. Cumbest, who led Merchants & Marine Bank as President & CEO from 1985 to 2019, and also as Chairman of the Board from 1991 to 2025, retired from the Board after four decades of exemplary service. In addition to his service to the Company and the Bank, Cumbest made significant contributions to South Mississippi and beyond through a career of servant leadership. Cumbest will remain actively involved in economic and community development in retirement.
“It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of an extraordinary servant leader like Royce Cumbest, whose legacy of leadership and commitment to both our team and the communities we serve is unmatched,” said Legear. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with our Board, our leadership team, and our entire Family of Brands as we continue building on the tremendous legacy that Royce has left.”
Legear began his career with Merchants & Marine Bank in 2011. Prior to being named President & Chief Executive Officer in 2019, he served in a variety of leadership roles within the Bank and the Company, including: Compliance Manager, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and President. Before joining the Bank, he worked as a Financial Institution Examiner and Deposit Insurance Claims Specialist with the FDIC.
Diann Payne, who has served as a Director of the Company since 2009, was elected Vice Chairman & Lead Independent Director. Payne brings a wealth of experience from the public and financial sectors, having served as Executive Director of Community Action of South Mississippi for over twenty years. Her background also includes service as a bank examiner for the FDIC and as a financial analyst for a banking institution. Ms. Payne currently chairs the Board’s Governance, Succession, and Compensation Committee.
“Diann’s leadership, expertise, and longstanding commitment to our Company and the communities we serve make her an ideal choice for Vice Chairman & Lead Independent Director,” said Legear. “Her insights and balanced perspective will continue to be invaluable as we navigate the future and continue to grow our Family of Brands.”
About Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc.
Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. (OTCQX: MNMB) is the parent company of Merchants & Marine Bank (the “Bank”), a Mississippi-chartered community bank serving the Gulf South region. Initially founded in 1899, Merchants & Marine Bank was reborn in 1932 during the middle of the worst economic disaster in the history of the United States: The Great Depression. More than nine decades later, Merchants & Marine Bank has grown from a strong community bank to a strong and growing family of community banking brands. The Bank provides a full array of community banking services through its Merchants & Marine Bank and Mississippi River Bank brands. The Bank offers mortgage financing through its Canvas Mortgage brand, medical cannabis banking and payment solutions through its CannaFirst Financial brand, government-guaranteed credit solutions through its Voyager Lending brand, and bank operational and support services through its Community of Resources bank services brand. For more information on Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc., visit https://mandmbank.com/investor-relations.
Diann Payne
Royce Cumbest
Clayton Legear
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The American Consulate in Tel Aviv suffered minor damage from the concussion of an Iranian missile landing nearby, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on Monday.
Huckabee said in a post on X there were no injuries to American personnel but that the consulate in Tel Aviv and Embassy in Jerusalem would remain closed through the day as a precaution.
The damage came amid a new wave of Iranian missile attacks on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s sweeping attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country as emergency services reported at least five killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of open warfare between the regional foes that showed no sign of slowing.
Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for Israel's sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since last Friday.
The attacks raised Israel’s total death toll to at least 18, and in response the Israeli military said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.
Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn on Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.
Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.
The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service reported that two women and two men — all in their 70s — and one other person were killed in the wave of missile attacks that struck four sites in central Israel.
“We clearly see that our civilians are being targeted,” said Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne outside the bombed-out building in Petah Tikva. “And this is just one scene. We have other sites like this near the coast, in the south.”
Petah Tikva resident Yoram Suki rushed with his family to a shelter after hearing an air raid alert, and emerged after it was over to find his apartment destroyed.
“Thank God we were OK,” the 60-year-old said.
Despite losing his home, he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep up the attacks on Iran.
“It's totally worth it,” he said. “This is for the sake of our children and grandchildren.”
In addition to those killed, the MDA said paramedics had evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, including a 30-year-old woman in serious condition, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.
“When we arrived at the scene of the rocket strike, we saw massive destruction,” said Dr. Gal Rosen, a paramedic with MDA who said he had rescued a 4-day-old baby as fires blazed from the building.
During an earlier barrage of Iranian missiles on central Israel on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran will stop its strikes if Israel does the same.
But after a day of intensive Israeli aerial attacks that extended targets beyond military installations to hit oil refineries and government buildings, the Revolutionary Guard struck a hard line on Monday, vowing that further rounds of strikes would be “more forceful, severe, precise and destructive than previous ones."
Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded in Iran, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians.
Rights groups, like the Washington-based Iranian advocacy group called Human Rights Activists, have suggested that the Iranian government’s death toll is a significant undercount. Human Rights Activists says it has documented more than 400 people killed, among them 197 civilians.
Israel argues that its assault on Iran's top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists was necessary to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.
But Iran has enriched ever-larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
People evacuate after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Rescue team work at the site where a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An explosion is seen during a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
People evacuate after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
