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|   | Rule      13a-14(a) Certification of Executive Vice President and Chief Executive      Officer |
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| 1.   | I      have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Highlands Bankshares,      Inc. for the year ended December 31,2009. |
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| 2.   | Based      on      my  knowledge,  this  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 such      statements were      made,  not  misleading  with  respect      to the period  covered by thisreport; |
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| 3.   | Based      on      my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial      information  included  in      this  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 report; |
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| 4.   | The      registrant's  other  certifying  officers  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-a5(f)) for the registrant and  have: |
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| 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 is beingprepared; |
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| 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 accounting      principles; |
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| 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 |
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| 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 (the registrant’s fourth fiscal      quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or      is reasonably likely to materially affect,  the      registrant's  internal control  over financial      reporting; and |
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| 5.   | The      registrant's other certifying  officers 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 equivalentfunctions): |
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