Cannon Nominated for Election to BancorpSouth Board of Directors

TUPELO, Miss., Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS) today announced the Company's Board of Directors has nominated Deborah M. Cannon of Houston, Texas for election as a director of BancorpSouth at the annual meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 22, 2015. Cannon serves as President and CEO of the Houston Zoo, Inc., and is a former Executive Vice President of Bank of America.

Dan Rollins, BancorpSouth Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commenting on Cannon's nomination for election, said, "BancorpSouth is extremely proud to have this highly respected business and public service leader stand for election to the BancorpSouth Board of Directors."

Hassell Franklin, BancorpSouth Lead Director and Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees, added, "We are pleased that Deborah Cannon, upon her election to the board, will be providing her business acumen, leadership and counsel to BancorpSouth."

Cannon has served as President and CEO of the Houston Zoo, Inc. since 2005. The Houston Zoo is a 55-acre zoological park located within Houston's Hermann Park. The zoo houses over 6,000 animals as part of over 900 species the zoo has to offer, and is the tenth most visited zoo in the United States.

Since joining the Houston Zoo, two and a half years following its privatization, Cannon has focused on bringing a business approach to the zoo. Under her leadership, the zoo has increased attendance from 1.4 million to approximately 2.4 million, increased revenues from $16 million to approximately $43 million, and has experienced a membership increase fourfold to over 58 thousand households. Under Cannon's leadership, the zoo has invested approximately $140 million in capital improvements.

Prior to being recruited to bring a business focus to the Houston Zoo, Cannon served 30 years with Bank of America in a range of management positions.  She began her career at Republic National Bank of Dallas, a predecessor company to what later became Bank of America. She held 14 different positions; all of which involved lending and managing groups of relationship managers in local, regional, national and international regions.

Assignments at Bank of America included leading the operations of the bank's offices in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In the U.S., Cannon led the Midwest region for the Corporate Bank, and started a new division for affluent individuals which ultimately became a major nationwide focus for the national enterprise. Her final area of responsibility was for the Business Banking unit in 10 states, from Texas to Nevada to Illinois, including more than 50 offices with loans of $3 billion and deposits of more than $4 billion. At the same time, she served as President for the Houston region, which included significant community and civic leadership initiatives. Prior to branch banking being approved in Texas, Cannon served as president of several smaller banks; she also led a group of seven banks with total assets in excess of $2 billion.

Cannon attended Georgetown University and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BBA and a major in finance.

Active in community service, she has served on more than 16 nonprofit boards. These include Memorial Hermann Health System where she serves on the finance, quality and governance committees, and chairs the Children's advisory board. She formerly chaired the hospital system board and finance committee. Her community service also includes the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, YMCA of Greater Houston and MD Anderson Board of Advisors.

As a leader in economic development, she was the first woman Chair of the Greater Houston Partnership, and also chaired the economic development and strategic planning committees.

Prior to moving to Houston, Cannon served on and chaired the Visiting Nurses Association board; the largest home health agency in Dallas. She chaired the North Texas Women's Business Council, and she was the founding chair of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council, which provides for national certifications for women owned businesses.

BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, with $13.3 billion in assets. BancorpSouth Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc., operates approximately 300 commercial banking, mortgage, and insurance locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in Illinois. "Like" us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter@MyBXS; or connect with us through LinkedIn.

SOURCE BancorpSouth, Inc.

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