Wachovia promotes executive with local ties

Banking giant Wachovia Corp. has promoted an executive with Charleston ties into a new job with big national responsibilities.

The Charlotte-based company named Carlos Evans as its new wholesale banking executive, responsible for leading the commercial, business, community, government and institutional banking segments nationwide. He will remain in charge of Wachovia's dealer business.

Evans is probably best known locally as a board member and treasurer of the Spoleto Festival USA. He has more than 30 years of experience in wholesale banking, during which time he oversaw the merger between Wachovia Dealer Financial Services and WFS Financial, which resulted in one of the five biggest dealer financing businesses in the U.S.

"Carlos is absolutely one of the very best, if not the best, wholesale banker in the country, and he will lead us to a more focused and coordinated approach across our client segments and across the geographies where we do business," said Ben Jenkins, head of Wachovia's General Bank.

Evans is a graduate of Newberry College. Among his other community involvements, he is chairman of the board of the Columbia-based H. Lee Atwater Foundation, the Winthrop University Real Estate Foundation and the Winthrop University Foundation.

Urge to merge

A local accounting firm has joined forces with a Beaufort shop.

Horace P. Ford CPA LLC of Charleston has merged with Doug Crowley & Co. of Beaufort to form Ford & Crowley CPAs LLC. The new firm will maintain offices in both locations.

Ford has been a certified public accountant since 1975. Crowley, a Marine Corps veteran, received his CPA in 1997.

Disaster relief

The Charleston Local Development Corp. , a city of Charleston-backed nonprofit that provides small-business financing, is offering a new disaster-relief loan program, designed to help small businesses in the Charleston metro area recover if a natural disaster hits here.

The program promises a streamlined loan-approval process intended to provide quick access to funds up to $10,000. Required documentation includes a copy of the firm's business license, current financial statements for the business and federal tax returns for the business and the owner.

The loan proceeds can be used to secure damaged buildings, buy generators, replace perishable inventory, pay salaries and meet other business-continuity needs. Essentially a short-term note, the loan must be repaid when the business receives funds from the Small Business Administration's disaster assistance program, insurance or other lenders.

The development agency's office is at 75 Calhoun St. More information is available from its director, Sharon Brennan, at 724-3796, or visit the Web site at charlestonldc.com.

Reach Michael Buettner at 937-5553 or mbuettner@postandcourier.com.