BLOOMINGTON, IN—Monroe Bank, the subsidiary of the locally headquartered bank holding company Monroe Bancorp, (NASDAQ: MROE), announced today that John E. Christy recently joined the Bank in the newly created position of President - Central Indiana region. The position was created in recognition of the importance that the Central Indiana region plays to the future of the Company. In the position, Mr. Christy holds the responsibility of attaining all of the Company's Central Indiana strategic objectives.  "I am extremely pleased to welcome John to our executive management team," said Monroe Bank President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark D. Bradford. "With his demonstrated skills in uniting his teams to exceed aggressive corporate goals, he will be a strong leader for our business development efforts in our expanded territory. He will also be a powerful force in ensuring that our Central Indiana employees are unified under the same goals of strong customer service and community support that have made Monroe Bank successful in our home markets for over 110 years."

Mr. Christy has 20 years of banking experience in key management positions in the commercial banking industry. Among them , he served as Senior Vice President for Key Bank in Indianapolis, where he was the Middle Market Commercial Division team sales leader for Central Indiana. He returns to Indiana after a three-year hiatus, which he spent in Tampa, Florida as a Senior Vice President of Southtrust Bank.  In that capacity, he was the regional manager in charge of the West Florida Middle Market Division. 

Mr. Christy also gained experience in Columbus, Ohio as an Area Bank President for Star Bank, where he was responsible for all of that region's business development activities, including retail banking, private banking and commercial real estate lending.

He is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, and a graduate of the University of Missouri where he received a bachelor of science in business administration. 

Monroe Bank was established in 1892 in Bloomington, Indiana and is the wholly owned subsidiary of Monroe Bancorp, and Indiana bank holding company headquartered in Bloomington. Its first Central Indiana banking center opened in September of 2001. Monroe Bank offers a full range of financial, trust and investment services to its more than 22,000 retail and commercial customers through offices in Monroe, Jackson, Lawrence and Hendricks counties. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ ® National Stock Market under the symbol MROE.