First Reliance Bank expands financial leadership team

First Reliance Bank has hired Robert Haile as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Elizabeth Bunn as Treasurer, and elevated Jeff Paolucci into the role of Chief Risk Officer (CRO). These changes begin the first phase of building out what CEO Rick Saunders describes as a “leadership team of unprecedented depth, insight and capability” in the bank’s two decades of business.

With more than 19 years in financial services, Haile comes to First Reliance after serving as Chief Investment Officer and treasurer for both Carolina Financial Corp and CresCom Bank in Charleston, SC, and as controller for Crescent Bank, predecessor to CresCom. He is a native of Charleston and alumnus of the University of South Carolina.

Bunn has more than 25 years of banking industry experience. Prior to joining First Reliance, she was treasurer for First Citizens Bank and RBC Bank in Raleigh, NC, and Director, Investments, Funding and Liquidity for RBC. Bunn earned her Masters in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Paolucci is an 18-year veteran of First Reliance Bank having served the company notably as CFO, Executive Vice President and Secretary. With previous experience as a FDIC Safety and Soundness Bank Examiner, he will focus on the regulatory arena and continue to help build upon an Enterprise Risk framework to position the bank for future growth.