F&M Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Harvey has announced his retirement after meeting with the bank’s board of directors last week.

The retirement came at the request of the board, Harvey said, and he expressed his surprise. “We were not expecting this,” he said Monday. “It was a shock.”

“Jack Harvey has served the bank and our community very well,” said Chairman of the Board Gerald O. Norman in a press release. “We wish him a happy, well-deserved retirement.”

The bank announced Monday that bank Senior Vice President L. Dan Coxwell had been named the new President and CEO.

Harvey had been with the former Farmers and Merchants Bank, now F&M Bank, since 1980, and had been President and CEO since 2003. Over the years, he has served the community as president of the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the Washington Rotary Club and the Washington Kiwanis Club. He serves on the Washington-Wilkes Payroll Development Authority and the Downtown Development Authority. He has served on the boards of the Georgia Bankers Association and the Community Bankers Association. He and his family are members of the First United Methodist Church of Washington.

Coxwell has 36 years banking experience including management positions with Home Federal Savings & Loan, First Savings Bank, Allied Bank, and Regions Bank. With F&M Bank since 2002, Coxwell has served as Senior Vice President and Senior Loan Officer.

Coxwell, too, has been very active in the Washington-Wilkes community. He has served as president of the Washington Kiwanis Club and the Washington Optimist Club. He has held leadership roles in the W-W Chamber of Commerce, Washington First, the American Cancer Society, and as a charter member of the Downtown Development Authority.

Dan and Judy Coxwell recently celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary, and are members of First Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon. They have two daughters and a son, and two grandchildren.