JACKSON, Miss.-- HOPE CU announced a series of new leadership hires and promotions. Jennifer Clark and Dr. Mary Ann Ross have been hired as Vice President, Investor Relations; Charles “L.J.” Molden has been hired as Vice President, Senior Commercial Loan Officer; Arlender Jones has been promoted to Vice President, Senior Commercial Loan Officer; and Randy McCoy, Jose Bolanos, and Ramsay Tyler Archie have been promoted to the role of Vice President, Strategic Initiatives.
Clark has been hired as Vice President, Investor Relations. She oversees the organization’s Transformational Deposit and Debt Service Investment programs. Prior to joining HOPE, she worked for the FDIC as a Financial Institution Specialist, Trustmark Bank as a Fair Lending Risk Analyst, and most recently for the State of Mississippi as the Director of Finance.
Ross has been hired as Vice President, Investor Relations. In this role, she will manage all of HOPE’s grant writing activities. She brings more than 20 years of Executive Leadership experience in the fields of Mental Health, Criminal Justice, Education, Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Permanent and Supporting Housing, Nonprofit Management, and Business Consulting. Most recently, she served as the Statewide Director of Treatment and Programs for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, where she earned the Commissioner’s Coin for Excellence in Corrections and the Mississippi Department of Corrections Coin for Innovative Reentry Programming.Molden has been hired as Vice President, Senior Commercial Loan Officer. In this role, he is responsible for advancing HOPE’s mission of strengthening the financial health and wealth of people in under-resourced communities in the Deep South, with an emphasis placed on HBCUs, municipalities and diverse entrepreneurs. L.J. has over 10 years of experience in the banking industry with a focus on real estate valuation, management, and commercial real estate underwriting and portfolio management. A native of Moss Point, Mississippi, L.J. earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a concentration in Accounting from Tougaloo College, and a Master of Business Administration from Jackson State University. He serves the Tougaloo College National Alumni Association as the Co-Chair of the Annual Alumni Giving Fund, the West Jackson Rotary Club as the Treasurer, and several additional community focused organizations in leadership positions. L.J. is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.Jones has been promoted to Vice President, Senior Commercial Loan Officer. Arlender is responsible for promoting economic growth, community development, and supporting diverse businesses. Primarily, she is responsible for developing and implementing strategies that drive economic growth, creating opportunities for the local community, and focusing on providing financial resources and support for businesses owned by individuals from diverse backgrounds. This includes minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses, and others. She has nearly 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. She began her career as a National Bank Examiner with the Comptroller of the Currency under the U.S. Treasury Department. After leaving the Comptroller of the Currency, Arlender went on to become CEO of three different Community Banks located in Dallas, TX, Seattle, WA, and Mobile, AL. She moved to Memphis, TN in 2002 to become Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Memphis First Community Bank in Whitehaven. Prior to joining HOPE, she was employed by First Tennessee/First Horizon Bank as a Commercial Loan Consultant. Arlender has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mississippi in Banking and Finance, and a Graduate Certification in Banking from Louisiana State University.
McCoy has been promoted to Vice President, Strategic Initiatives. Prior to his current position as Vice President at Hope Credit Union, Randy gained valuable experience in various industries, including Healthcare (Aramark Healthcare Technology Center), Higher Education (University of Southern Mississippi), Network Operations (AT&T), Banking (Trustmark Bank), and the state of Mississippi (Mississippi Development Authority).
Bolanos has been promoted to Vice President, Strategic Initiatives where he leads the deployment of the organization’s mortgage software, the implementation of the technology roadmap, and all process automation discovery efforts. Since joining HOPE in November 2022, he has promoted a project management culture and encouraged best practices that create project efficiencies. He previously worked for Trustmark Bank and as a project management consultant.Tyler Archie has been promoted to Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at HOPE. He currently leads the Green HOPE initiative, in addition to process and product improvement efforts across HOPE’s lines of business. Before joining HOPE, Tyler reported for a newspaper, practiced law, and was a subject matter expert and Director of Compliance for a software company that provides real estate and due process solutions to governments in several states.