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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, James C. Clinard, President and Chief Executive Officer of the registrant,
certify that:

(1)      I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of Heartland
         Bancshares, Inc.;

(2)      Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
         untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
         necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
         under which statements were made, not misleading with respect to the
         period covered by this quarterly report;

(3)      Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
         information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
         material respects the financial condition, results of operations. and
         cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
         this quarterly report;

(4)      The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
         establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
         control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
         13a-15(f) and 15d- 15(f) for the registrant and we have:

                  (a)      designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                           caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be
                           designed under our supervision, to ensure that
                           material information relating to the registrant,
                           including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
                           known to us by others within those entities,
                           particularly during the period in which this report
                           was being prepared;

                  (b)      designed such internal control over financial
                           reporting, or caused such internal control over
                           financial reporting to be designed under our
                           supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
                           regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                           the preparation of financial statements for external
                           purposes in accordance with generally accepted
                           account principles;

                  (c)      evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's
                           disclosure controls and procedures and presented in
                           this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
                           of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the
                           end of the period covered by this report based on
                           such evaluation; and

                  (d)      disclosed in this report any change in the
                           registrant's internal control over financial
                           reporting that occurred during the registrant's most
                           recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,
                           or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
                           registrant's internal control over financial
                           reporting; and

(5)      The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
         on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
         reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the
         registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
         function):

                  (a)      all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses
                           in the design or operation of internal control over
                           financial reporting, which are reasonably likely to
                           adversely affect the registrant's ability to record,
                           process, summarize and report financial information;
                           and

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                  (b)      any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                           management or other employees who have a significant
                           role in the registrant's internal control over
                           financial reporting.

August 14, 2003

/s/ James C. Clinard
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James C. Clinard
President and Chief Executive Officer