CEO Andy Westbrook leads Palmetto State Bank as it welcomes new opportunities
March 11, 2025
Andy Westbrook is the new president and CEO of Palmetto State Bank.
In this position he will lead a venerable community bank that has faithfully and effectively served customers in towns such as Allendale, Beaufort, Bluffton, Estill, Fairfax and Hampton for more than a century, steadfastly continuing that tradition while venturing into new, higher-growth markets.
“I’ve spent my entire 39 years in banking in South Carolina, in larger banks and community banks,” he says, and “I’ve enjoyed every step.”
In 2023, he joined Palmetto State as COO and senior executive vice president. “I love the Lowcountry of South Carolina,” he says. “Getting back down here was always my desire.”
At the time, the board of the Lowcountry-based bank already had plans to move him into the top job when then-president Jan Malinowski retired. Malinowski made that move at the end of 2024, and Westbrook stepped into the role in January.
He moves back into an area in which he is already invested, with his involvement on the boards of the Parris Island Heritage Foundation and the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, as well as the current class of Leadership Beaufort.
Westbrook, 62, has already brought in some innovations, but he is mindful of the importance of moving deliberately and respectfully “any time you come into an institution like this that’s more than 100 years old,” having been established in 1907. Still, he says, “I’ve been able to introduce some things here that have been well received.”
One thing he’s done is work to “build more of an understanding of who our customers are and what they need.” And PSB is very careful about how it does that. “We’re about ethical selling,” not trying to push upon customers “something they don’t need.” And if the customer needs something that’s not in the Palmetto State toolbox, “We team them up with someone who does do that.”
That’s one of the things customers love about Palmetto State in the smaller towns of the southern part of the state, where the bank has stayed strong through all the past century’s multiple financial shoal waters, continuing to serve them with their loan, deposit and other banking needs.
Like the longtime customers, “I knew what wonderful people they are” at Palmetto State. And he means for those customers to continue to enjoy the kind of neighborly service they have known, while the bank ventures into new areas.
In February, PSB hired two new market executives to send into Charleston and Greenville to take the first steps toward expanding into those much-bigger markets in the coming years.
Cherishing the past and with high hopes to the future – that’s how Andy Westbrook and Palmetto State Bank look forward to the years to come.
About Palmetto State Bank
Palmetto State Bank, headquartered in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, was founded in 1907. It has grown into a half-billion-dollar institution with seven branches serving Beaufort, Allendale, and Hampton counties. Its board, executives and employees are proud to deliver the kind of service that many believe was a thing of the past, with a commitment to seeing to its neighbors’ needs with the very best personal, one-on-one attention.
