Southside Bancshares, Inc. announced that as contemplated by the terms of that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated as of June 12, 2017, by and among Southside Bancshares, Inc., Rocket Merger Sub, Inc., and Diboll State Bancshares, Inc., on October 16, 2017, the board of directors of the company approved the expansion of the size of the Board by two to 17 members, and the appointment of H. J. Shands, III and Richard Warner to the Board, in each case to be effective as of the effective time of the merger of Merger Sub with and into Diboll. Immediately after the First Merger, Diboll will merge with and into Southside, with Southside as the surviving company. Each of the Diboll Designees currently serves as a director of Diboll and H. J. Shands, III currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Diboll. Mr. Shands’ and Mr. Warner’s terms of office will expire at the company's 2018 annual meeting of shareholders, and the Nominating Committee of the Board shall consider in good faith the nomination for re-election of Mr. Shands for a term that expires at the annual meeting of shareholders in 2020 and the nomination for re-election of Mr. Warner for a term that expires at the annual meeting of shareholders in 2019. Compensatory arrangements for Mr. Warner will be consistent with the company’s previously disclosed standard arrangements for non-employee directors. Such arrangements are described in the company’s proxy statement for its 2017 annual meeting of shareholders filed on March 22, 2017, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, immediately following the effective time of the Second Merger, Mr. Shands will assume the role of Regional President, East Texas, and therefore will receive no compensation for his service as a director of the company.