THOMAS HASTY

Senior executive vice president and chief regulatory and risk management officer, TowneBank, Suffolk

Published January 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

Although Virginia has had notable Black banking leaders — including Maggie Walker at the start of the 20th century — it’s still a business that has not had a lot of African American representation in the C-suite. In 1999, after working for BB&T, Hasty took control of his fate and became a co-founder of Suffolk-based TowneBank, where he now focuses on the institution’s regulatory risks.

“General expectations weren’t always high for African Americans,” Hasty says, so he says he made it a practice to ask for complicated assignments that showcased what he could do. “If someone puts an obstacle in your way, you go around it,” he says. “You don’t stop.” Hasty, who grew up in Hampton Roads and is involved in numerous community organizations, became the first Black chair of the American Heart Association’s Heart of Hampton Roads Heart and Stroke Ball in 2022.

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