Bank of the Ozarks Elects Ian Arnof to Board of Directors.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- George Gleason, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. (NASDAQ: OZRK), announced the election of Ian Arnof to the Company's and its subsidiary bank's Boards of Directors.

Arnof is a native of McCrory, Arkansas and has 45 years of experience in the banking industry. He is the retired Chief Executive Officer of First Commerce Corporation in New Orleans, Louisiana, a $9.3 billion regional banking holding company at the time of his retirement.

"Ian Arnof has led a distinguished career in building and leading a large regional bank which will be important to Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. as we continue to pursue our growth strategy," Gleason commented. "Ian brings strong leadership skills and broad, deep financial experience to our company. His passion for community service, great character and business success exemplifies the type of individual we value on our board of directors," Gleason added.

Arnof is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and received his MBA from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. He began his banking career in 1960 when he joined the board of the Bank of McCrory. He joined First Tennessee in Memphis, Tennessee in 1963 where he held management positions in commercial lending, information systems, and corporate development until 1978. He joined First Commerce Corporation as Chief Financial Officer in 1978 and held the position for the next five years.

Taking the reigns as Chief Executive Officer of First Commerce Corporation immediately after the Company merged with The Bank of New Orleans in 1983, Arnof led the successful integration of the two organizations. First Commerce continued to grow more than 450% over the next 15 years of his leadership, until his retirement in 1998.

"I believe Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. is one of the most well respected and trusted publicly traded community banking companies in the country. It is an honor to be elected to the Board of Directors and I look forward to working hard with the current board to help the Company grow and achieve its goals," Arnof commented.

Arnof has held leadership positions on numerous civic, charitable and professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. He was Chair of the Louisiana Superdome Commission for four years, Chairman of the Jewish Endowment Fund, a member of the Louisiana Advisory Board for the United Negro College Fund, a director of the Audubon Institute, a director of the National Conference for Community Justice (NCCJ), a member of the Executive Committee of the Ochsner Medical Foundation, and has been a strong advocate and leader for public education reform on the state and national levels. He was named New Orleanian of the Year in 1993, Humanitarian of the Year for the National Jewish Hospital in Denver, Colorado and received the Whitney Young Brotherhood Award from the Urban League of New Orleans in 1995.

Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. is a bank holding company with $2.2 billion in total assets as of March 31, 2006 and trades on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "OZRK." The Company owns a state chartered subsidiary bank that conducts banking operations through 55 offices in 31 communities throughout northern, western and central Arkansas, three banking offices in Texas, and loan production offices in Little Rock and Bentonville, Arkansas and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Company may be contacted at [phone] or P. O. Box 8811, Little Rock, Arkansas 72231-8811. The Company's website is: www.bankozarks.com.