ORANGE COUNTY : Centennial Announces Personnel Changes

Frank Smith has been hired as chief financial officer for Centennial Beneficial Corp., an Orange-based bank holding company. He replaced J. David Cheshier, who will retain a similar position with a related company, Centennial Group Inc.

Additionally, Centennial Group has named Jeffrey Keck to the new position of assistant vice president of realty transactions at the real estate development company.

Smith, 37, of Mission Viejo, had been corporate controller for United California Savings Bank in Anaheim and a certified public accountant at Arthur Young & Co. before joining Centennial Beneficial, which owns Sunwest Bank in Tustin and several other banking and leasing firms.

Keck had been an income tax consultant in St. Louis before accepting the position with Centennial Group, which was formed in June.

The Centennial companies’ two largest shareholders are John B. Joseph, chairman of Centennial Beneficial, and Ronald R. White, chairman of Centennial Group. The two founded the companies and each owns about 10% of the real estate company’s stock and about 8.5% of the banking company’s shares.