METAIRIE – The board of directors of Metairie Bank and Trust Co. announced that John P. LeBlanc will become the community bank’s new CEO and Michael A. Gennaro will become its new president. The announcement comes after the death of former president and CEO Ron E. Samford Jr. on Jan. 31.
“Mike and I are following in the footsteps of a great leader and mentor,” said LeBlanc. “Together with the entire Metairie Bank team, we will do Ron proud. The future of this 75-year-old community bank begins now.”
LeBlanc most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Hibernia Bank. Prior to that, he spent four years as Metairie Bank’s senior vice president, chief financial officer. Before joining Metairie Bank, he served as executive vice president, chief financial officer for Bank of New Orleans and Louisiana Bancorp for 14 years.
For decades, LeBlanc has been an active member of the greater New Orleans community, serving as an executive board member of the Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce and on the Executive Leadership Council of the American Cancer Society. He received his Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of New Orleans. He resides in Metairie with his wife, Sherie, and their children Taylor, Brady and Tanner.
Gennaro is a Metairie native with 35 years of banking experience. Since 2013, he has served as senior vice president, chief commercial lending officer at Metairie Bank.
Gennaro received his Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of New Orleans. He joined Hibernia National Bank in 1988 as a credit analyst and eventually became senior vice president and director of new business development and portfolio manager. He was consistently ranked among the top business banking producers in the GNO markets for Hibernia/Capital One. He left there to join Whitney National Bank in 2010 as a commercial lender in a similar capacity. He is the current chairman of the Better Business Bureau of Greater New Orleans, past board member of the Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce, American Diabetes Association, and Business Resource Capital. Gennaro and his wife Debbie have two adult children, Angela and Vincent.
“Metairie Bank and its customers are in good hands,” said Gennaro. “Our next 75 years will be as rock solid as the first.”
