Honoring a Leader Who Helped Shape Huntsville’s Growth: Reflections on David Nast’s Legacy

Written by Lynn Harton, CEO of United Community

Communities are built by people who invest deeply in the places they call home.  These leaders work to build connections, imagine what could be, and are never satisfied with the status quo.  

David Nast is one of those leaders. His influence on Huntsville’s business community, the state of Alabama, and United Community will be felt for decades to come.

David’s retirement gives us the opportunity to honor his contributions and acknowledge the impact he has had on the teams, customers, and communities he has served.

As the founder of Progress Bank in 2008, he built a community-focused institution at a time when Huntsville’s growth was accelerating.  He understood the area’s momentum, its entrepreneurial drive, and its values. His vision helped Progress Bank become a trusted partner for families and businesses across the area.

When Progress Bank joined United Community in 2023, David’s leadership was essential to ensuring a smooth and thoughtful transition. He remained with United as Alabama State President, guiding his team and customers through the integration with the same calm, principled leadership that had defined his career. It is not easy moving from the CEO role, particularly a founding CEO role, to a market leadership role. But David knew the importance of continuity, and he understood that United needed him to help make the right decisions for the market. I suspect he knew as well that he would need to push back at times, because even when corporate intentions are well founded, making decisions work locally requires flexibility and local decision making. And so, David stayed with us after the merger.

And because David stayed, his team remained confident and engaged – and they stayed. And because his team stayed, customers continued to experience the continuity and personal service they had come to expect – and they stayed.

That stability became one of the great strengths of our combined organization and a key reason the transition has been so successful. 

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to see David’s approach to leadership in person. He believes in putting people first, leading with integrity, and building teams who care deeply about their work and the communities they serve. Today, the team he developed continues to support commercial loan operations across our company, and the standards he set continue to influence the way United shows up across Alabama.

At United Community, one of our values is what we call “The Golden Rule of Banking” – treating each other and our customers the way we would want to be treated. David and his team fit perfectly with that value. As United Community looks to the future, we remain committed to building on the foundation David helped shape. Alabama is an essential part of our footprint, and we are investing in its growth with the kind of personal, proactive, community-driven service that has long defined our bank. 

I am grateful for David’s leadership, proud to celebrate his retirement, and committed to carrying forward the work he set in motion as we build a future worthy of the people and communities of Alabama.

 

Lynn Harton serves as chief executive officer of United Community, a top 100 U.S. financial institution serving six states across the Southeast. United is an 11-time winner of J.D. Power’s award for highest customer satisfaction among consumer banks in the Southeast and was named the most trusted bank in the region in 2025. The company has also been recognized nine consecutive years by American Banker as one of the “Best Banks to Work For.” In commercial banking, United earned five 2025 Greenwich Best Brand awards, including national honors for middle market satisfaction.