Bank of Botetourt has promoted Michelle R. Austin and George E. “Ned” Honts IV to Executive Vice President.
Austin will maintain her role as Chief Operating Officer, which she has held since 2005, and will continue working from the bank’s Troutville Office. Austin began her career in banking with Bank of Botetourt as a college intern in 1991 and joined the bank full time in 1993. She has her Bachelor of Business Administration from Roanoke College and an MBA from Troy University. Austin also graduated from the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) School of Bank Management at University of Virginia (UVA) and the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University (LSU).
“I am blessed to be part of the leadership team at Bank of Botetourt. As a community banker, it has been rewarding to help customers, employees, and the local area for the past 28 years,” Austin said.
Austin was recently appointed to the Region 2 GO Virginia Board (GOVA). The GOVA mission is to support programs that help create high-paying jobs through incentivized collaboration between business, education, and government to diversify and strengthen the economy in every region of the Commonwealth. She serves as a board member of the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Benefits Board since 2019, served on the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College (DSLCC) Educational Foundation since 2011 and continues to be a trustee of Lithia United Methodist Church. Her spare time has always included an element of education. For 11 years Austin served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Business Administration and Economics at Roanoke College. She currently teaches an accounting prerequisite class for the VBA School of Bank of Management at the University of Virginia (UVA).
He serves on the board of the Botetourt County Public Schools Education Foundation, the board and executive board for the Virginia State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and as a board member and treasurer of the Appalachian Habitat Association. In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors and can be found hunting, fishing and golfing. Honts grew up in Botetourt County and resides in the Troutville area with his wife Stephanie and their son Garrett.
Bank President and CEO, G. Lyn Hayth III said, “The bank and our senior management team is grateful to have both Michelle and Ned on our team. Their wealth of knowledge in the industry combined with the time they’ve both invested in our community brings a level of insight that cannot be matched.”
Bank of Botetourt was chartered in 1899 and operates 12 retail offices in Botetourt, Rockbridge, Roanoke, and Franklin counties and the City of Salem. Bank of Botetourt also operates a mortgage division, Virginia Mountain Mortgage, and a financial services division, Botetourt Wealth Management.
