About six years ago, Rocky Hensley went to visit his longtime friend Joe Brannen, chairman and CEO of Brannen Bank.
The men had grown up together in Inverness, went to the same school that had 300 kids in the seventh through 12th grade, played ball together.
However, even though they were both career bankers, they had never worked together. Get more from the Citrus County Chronicle
It was a Monday morning and Hensley had just lost his job at CenterState Bank on Friday after that bank closed its retail branch operation, eliminating Hensleyâs position.
âWe sat down together â me, Matt (Brannen), Joe and George (Brannen) â and I told them what had happened,â Hensley said. âOne of them asked, âWhy havenât you ever worked for us before?â and I said, âYou never asked.â They said, âYou never applied,â and I said, âWell, Iâm applying now.ââ