For immediate release: Jan. 11, 2006

John H. Holcomb III, chairman and chief executive officer of Alabama National Bancorporation, and James H. Sanford, chairman of the board of HOME Place Farms Inc., have been reappointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Birmingham Branch. Their terms began Jan. 1, 2006, and end Dec. 31, 2008.

Holcomb began his banking career in 1974 at the First National Bank of Birmingham. In 1980, he joined the National Bank of Commerce in Birmingham and became its chief executive officer in 1990. He is a member of the board of directors of the Birmingham Better Business Bureau, the United Way of Central Alabama and the Alabama Bankers Association.

Holcomb received his bachelor’s degree from Furman University in 1974.

Sanford is a fourth-generation cotton producer whose great-grandparents began operating a cotton farm in 1881. He manages 4,600 acres of land. He is chairman of Sylvest Farms Inc., the Alabama Cotton Commission and the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation. Sanford is also a director of the Alabama Power Co., QuickFarm.com and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. He is a general partner in HOME Place Partners, HOME Place Capital and Warm Springs LLC and is president of Autauga Quality Cotton Association Inc.

Sanford received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1968, and in 1971 he earned a master’s degree in economics from Auburn University.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch directors provide economic information from the branch territory to the district Bank’s president and head office directors, who use the information in formulating monetary policy and making discount rate recommendations. Holcomb was appointed by the Atlanta head office directors, and Sanford was appointed by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. The Board of Governors appoints three of the directors of the Birmingham Branch, and the Atlanta head office directors appoint four.