Potomac Bank has named Carolyn K. Johnson Senior Vice President, Director of Digital and Payment Strategy, putting her in charge of how the West Virginia-based bank builds out its digital banking and payments experience for clients across three states.
Johnson steps into the role after most recently serving as Retail Market Executive at LINKBANK, where she led retail strategy and market growth initiatives. Her background runs deep in community banking specifically: she previously served as Chief Retail Operations Officer at Virginia Partners Bank, and started her career with branch-level experience at PNC.
Anthony Ranghelli, Potomac Bank’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, framed her hiring around the bank’s push to compete on digital experience without losing its community-bank identity. “We are pleased to welcome Carolyn to lead our digital and payments efforts,” he said, pointing to her more than a decade of client-centric banking experience as the reason he expects her to shape a secure, positive experience across the bank’s digital banking and payments systems.
The appointment lands at a moment of broader change for the institution. Potomac Bank, a subsidiary of Potomac Bancshares, was founded in 1871 as Bank of Charles Town and only took on its current name in November 2025. As of the end of June, the bank reported $981 million in total assets, operating across a nine-branch network and two loan production offices spanning the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Washington County, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. The bank runs consumer and commercial banking divisions alongside trust, wealth, and residential lending arms, giving Johnson a fairly wide surface area to modernize as she settles into the role.
Johnson holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mary Washington. Her track record has drawn industry recognition beyond her employers: she was named to the Independent Community Bankers of America’s 40 Under 40 in 2019 and received the Rising Star Award from the Virginia Association of Community Bankers. She’s also active outside banking, volunteering with the Marine Corps Marathon and supporting Gwyneth’s Gift Foundation in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and previously served as a board member and treasurer of the Thurman Brisben Center from 2018 to 2026.
Johnson lives in Prince William County, Virginia, with her husband and daughter. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking in the Shenandoah region, and traveling.
For a community bank operating in a region where larger regional and national banks compete aggressively on digital convenience, the hire signals where Potomac sees its next real battleground: not branch count, but whether its digital and payments experience can keep pace with clients’ expectations without losing what differentiates a community bank in the first place.