GAINESVILLE, Texas — A Gainesville lender has landed a statewide leadership post, adding his name to a list of First State Bank officers who have represented the community at the highest levels of Texas banking.
Grayson Burch, AVP Commercial Lender at First State Bank, was elected At Large Banker to the Leadership Division board of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) on June 26 at the association's 41st Annual Connecting Leaders Conference in Round Rock. The Leadership Division, founded in 1985, develops rising community bank leaders through 13 regional chapters and more than 500 members statewide.
Burch has spent seven years in lending and credit roles at First State Bank. He is a fourth-generation community banker, a member of the Champion's Rotary Club in Justin, and a graduate of the Metroport Chamber Leadership Program and the Texas Tech School of Banking. He holds a business administration degree in finance from Abilene Christian University.
A bank older than the county's modern skyline
Burch's election lands during a milestone stretch for his employer. First State Bank was chartered Aug. 16, 1905, by Cicero Smith and W.H. Eddleman as the 11th state-chartered bank in Texas — and it remains the oldest state bank still operating in the state. The bank marked 120 years of continuous service in 2025, an anniversary the Texas Bankers Association recognized for its longevity.
What began as a single downtown office has grown into a 14-branch network across North and Central Texas, including Denton, Saint Jo, Muenster, Decatur, Roanoke, Sherman, Whitesboro, Celina, Waco and Denison. The bank relocated its Gainesville headquarters to California Street in 1977, added a second Gainesville branch in 1996 and opened in Lake Kiowa in 1998 — but it never moved its headquarters, or its senior leadership, out of Cooke County.
That staying power has made First State Bank a fixture of local civic life well beyond lending. The bank's name is attached to community fixtures like the Lady Knights' First State Bank Holiday Classic basketball tournament, and its officers have repeatedly held seats on the IBAT Leadership Division board in recent years. The bank is also in the final stretch of a headquarters expansion at 1818 N. I-35, where an 8,000-square-foot fourth-floor office buildout is set to wrap up this week, CCR reported in a recent roundup of Gainesville commercial permits.
IBAT, formed in 1974, represents more than 2,500 Texas community banks and branches in over 700 communities statewide. A complete list of the Leadership Division's new board members is available on the IBAT website.