Wells Fargo’s Wilmington market president has a new position with a regional business focus.

Randy Tomsic has been named business banking manager for Wells Fargo’s newly aligned Triangle East South region, the bank announced Wednesday.  The region includes Wilmington, Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Morehead City and New Bern.  Tomsic will be based in Wilmington and will continue to serve as market president. Two new business bankers will support the business community’s growth in the Wilmington market.

According to the bank’s news release, the business banking initiative comes as a result of a small business index survey Wells Fargo and Gallup conducted in early April, which showed that 14 percent of small business owners said they planned to apply for new credit over the next year.

The April survey also showed a decline of 3 percentage points over a similar January survey in the number of small business owners who said they had found it difficult to obtain credit in the previous 12 months. Between January and April, the number of business owners expecting difficulty securing credit in the coming 12 months fell by 6 percentage points (from 38 to 32 percent), according to the news release, which stated also that improved optimism about future credit availability contributed to the Small Business Index’s 8-point growth over last quarter from 15 to 23, and is the strongest index score recorded since Q3 2008 when the index was at positive 45.

“The study’s findings are consistent with the optimism we are experiencing locally among the business community,” Tomsic said in the release. “We want to make sure Wells Fargo has a strong team of experienced bankers dedicated to helping small businesses in our region succeed.”

Two experienced commercial bankers have been tapped to support Wells Fargo’s business banking expansion in the Wilmington market.

Stuart Smith joins Wells Fargo as the market’s business banking manager. Smith worked for Gateway Bank in Wilmington where he served as the special assets manager, commercial real estate manager and city executive since 2010.  Prior to that, he worked for RBC Centura Bank in Wilmington as a regional commercial real estate banker.  He has more than 23 years of experience in financial services and is a graduate of the University of Virginia.   

Reggie Webb becomes Wells Fargo’s business banking relationship manager for Wilmington.  Webb has worked for the bank since 2006 and most recently served as a personal banker.  Prior to that, he worked as a service claims representative for Nationwide Insurance in Wilmington.  Webb earned a bachelor’s degree from Elizabeth City State University and received a master’s of public administration degree from the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Croix.

“The markets that we have combined in the new region have many similarities, in terms of their small business service sector, their coastal environment and their military presence,” Tomsic said. “We’re positioning ourselves, as the economy continues to improve, to be well prepared to respond to increased loan demand throughout the region.”

Tomsic joined Wells Fargo in 1988 and has served as the Wilmington market president since 2004. Prior to that, Tomsic held senior roles including community bank director, regional business banking sales director and commercial relationship manager.