Sunday Interview with Jimmy Blanchard: 'I think your reputation is made over a long period of time by what you do and who you are'
Over nearly a half century, Jimmy Blanchard has been in critical business and civic leadership positions in Columbus.
He took over Columbus Bank & Trust Co. when he was just 28 years old. Today, he is 73, out of the banking business and enjoying the fruits of his success.
Recently, he sat down with Ledger-Enquirer reporter Chuck Williams to talk about that success and the challenges that came with it. He was reflective, talking about Synovus' financial crisis; his boss and friend, Bill Turner; his family and his faith.
Here are excerpts of the interview, with some of the questions edited for length and the order of some of the questions rearranged for clarity.
You know Columbus probably as well as anybody. What do you think of the Columbus you're seeing today?
I think it's incredible. I think Columbus has come so far, and I can remember a day when there was kind of a "we can't do it in Columbus" attitude. And today, I think it's a "we can do it" attitude that just really means almost anything is possible in Columbus, Georgia.
Would you say that downtown has become the center of that attitude?
It's a big part of it. I think the attitude really started changing -- this is my historical perspective -- in 1979, when we opened the Trade Center, and a month or two later we opened I-185. And we got that monkey off of our back that we were the biggest city in the U.S. without an interstate. Both of those things really opened eyes and people started thinking, "Wow, that's right here in my hometown." And I think it was a beginning point of what we are seeing now.
Not long after that, Pratt-Whitney came in, right?
Union Carbide, TRW, it was a wave of economic development in the early '70s. Pratt-Whitney came in 1980.
Why did it take so long for Columbus to start to recruit outside industry and start to look to expand the economic base?
Well, if you go back even further than that, you had the group that put the Historic District together in the mid-'60s, you saved the Springer, you've got the consolidated government, you had the race riots in 1971 that turned into a very positive movement of black and white leaders meeting together and gaining confidence in each other.
And it really built a base for brotherhood and understanding and friendships and trust. And in the early '70s -- '72, '73, '74, somewhere in there -- the Chamber started really their fourth or fifth try to get into the economic development business in a serious way. And you had Bill Heard, Dayton Preston, Gardiner Garrard, you had George Woodruff. It had been tried before, but this crowd really put their heart and soul in it and said, "We're going to make it a lifetime project," and it really took off and we had a 10-year run that was incredible in Columbus.
So, that group went to Atlanta, they got involved with Industry Trade and Tourism. They got involved with the major banks. They got involved with the industrial development community, and really got to know them, courted them, put together a program based on what we learned about how you do it and how you can be successful. So, it was like everything else, it took a small group of people who just said, "This is what we're going to do."
Is that where the public-private partnerships started to develop?
You've got to look at all those things. I say the start was when they saved the Historic District. But all the way through, Uptown became a part of that string of events. You had the RiverCenter, you've got the Southern Open and the Steeplechase, you've got a string of activities, events and occurrences. And then, of course, the latest is whitewater. That's a major happening on a metamorphosis of a city.
You think whitewater is that big?
Yeah, I think it's big. And then Columbus State coming down to the central business district in Uptown. That's so big. You had the hotel -- it was the Hilton then -- and you had a lot of other events that occurred, then you had the TSYS campus. You had these two anchors and then all of a sudden you started filling in between, and then, lo and behold, you end up with a lot of people there because of Columbus State.
You remember working in downtown when it was hard to find a restaurant to eat at, don't you?
You had Kirven's, that was about it.
Talk about what you see when you go down there now.
It's unbelievable.
You see restaurants -- like 11th & Bay -- where there were cotton warehouses, right?
Epic -- that's like a New York-quality style restaurant. You can name five or six restaurants in Columbus now that are not chains; they are upscale, first-class restaurants where people have a choice.
A lot of people say that you were one of the original architects of what has happened downtown. Are you pleased with what you see today?
Let me tell you how I got into Uptown. I was the first president of Uptown Columbus, and it came out of a study that we did in the Chamber the year before when I was president of the Chamber. And the Chamber wanted that organization inside the Chamber so bad but we decided it needed to be outside of the Chamber because the Chamber is a membership organization for the entire community.
We needed something that was focused 100 percent on this central business district. And I got involved with it because Bill Turner came to me and he said, among a number of other things, "Jimmy, I want to see you get involved in this effort we've got in the central business district." And I said, "Well, Bill, you know I'm doing the Chamber, United Way, and a lot of these other things, and I really like to work on things where I think I've got a chance of making a difference."
It was that bad?
It was that bad. And he said to me, "No, you don't understand. I want you involved in it." And of course, he was my boss, basically, and I said, "Yessir." I'm so glad I did because it was the start of something so special. We hired Rozier (Dedwylder). He was kind of our director, and he became the next president several years after I stepped down. But I would say that it is a completion of what was a vision that was pretty solid and attractive, but not nearly what it has become. So yes, it's an incredible happening and it has brought life to a very important part of the city that makes a difference in the whole nature of our town.
You were talking about the businesses here. You are familiar with the business landscape of the state of Georgia. Is there another second-tier city that has an Aflac, a TSYS, a Synovus, a Carmike? Does that exist in the other second tier?
No.
Does that separate us?
Yes.
Why?
It is one of the most important factors that separates us. It's not the only thing. But what that has done, it has created a base of leadership for these public companies that has spilled over into leadership for the city. And it also has created a wealth factor that did not exist in the city, that the investors in these -- what were small locally owned thriving but not significant factors -- have become extremely significant.
Forty years ago if somebody had told you Aflac is going to be what it is today, what would you have said?
You know, I'm so engaged, involved, in the W.C. Bradley Co., the Synovus, the TSYS, the CB&T history, but Aflac has become something that is bigger than all of those combined. So, it's one of the most incredible success stories. Dan Amos was on my board when he took over. And by the way, he was one the greatest directors that I ever served with. When he took over the company it was still a mom-and-pop kind of deal even though it was significantly growing and had some real size.
It's not a mom-and-pop company anymore.
Well, Dan Amos turned it into one of the finest New York Stock Exchange companies in America. There's just no limit to the kind of accolades that we ought to be showering on Dan Amos for what he's done at Aflac. It's incredible.
Dan still eats at Country's and he goes to the YMCA, but he is in an elite group of corporate executives now, right?
Yes. He's the No. 1 rated insurance company by (A.M.) Best in America. He's in the "Best Places to Work," he's in the most respected, he's a leader in the governance trends. He's the real deal. I mean he's incredible. There are a lot of success stories in Columbus. He's the biggest and the best.
Let's talk about TSYS. You were at the forefront of establishing the processing company in the basement of the bank, right?
Right.
Could you have envisioned TSYS becoming what it is today? You're still on the TSYS board, right?
I'm the lead director at TSYS.
How did this happen?
I used to have a friend who was a Cuban refugee, moved here when he was a teenager, couldn't speak any English -- the story you've heard many times. But he's now the most successful real estate developer in Miami, and I served on the BellSouth board with him. He used to sit next to me in the meetings and we would have these incredible things going on and he would nudge me and lean over and say, "Jimmy, what a country!"
And it is, in spite of the feelings that people may be have about it right now. It's the most incredible country in the world that's ever been, and what's happened in Columbus with these companies and this community -- this Uptown, this economic development, everything -- is a reflection of a city that has capitalized on this ballpark that we're playing in called the USA.
And it's the most incredible laboratory for prominence and success and advantage and everything or description you want to put on it. It's just incredible. And you go through funks; some people would say we're going through one now.
So, TSYS will continue to grow, in your opinion?
Yeah, and it will be a powerful force in the community. Synovus is a powerful force, and you know, we've been through a period of time that was really stressful, primarily brought on by what is called the Great Recession.
From your viewpoint, it looked more like a depression, didn't it?
It looked like it and felt like it. I would say the financial services industry, particularly in the South because of the predominance of real estate in the portfolios of the Southern banks, it was a depression. It's another great success story that it's now on its feet, strong, getting stronger, and I think the future for Synovus is extremely bright as well.
You are no longer officially tied to Synovus, right?
Right.
Kessel Stelling is the chairman and CEO now. You have a good relationship with Kessel and talk with him on a regular basis, right?
Yes. He's a good friend. He has been very considerate of me having been the CEO for 35 years. He's very thoughtful in my part in the history of the company, and he has been very quick to ask my opinion -- I guess, advice. He's his own man; he's got a great sense of leadership and vision for the company. But I would say I have enjoyed a very nice, pleasant and, I think, productive relationship with him.
How painful was it for you to watch what Synovus went through over that four-and-a-half year period?
It was very painful. It was like a serious illness of one of my children. When I look back on basically the size and the actual bank that I engaged with in 1970, and I think of what it was when basically I stepped down as CEO ...
That was in 2005, right?
That was July 2005. I think this is the cycle most people go through when they hit really difficult times. You're kind of in denial a little bit that it could really be this bad and then you get adjusted to the reality and you have concerns about the future. And then you begin to see the opportunity for recovery.
I just can't say enough about Kessel Stelling. One, he was an answer to prayer that he was here and was able to take it when he did. And then the skills and abilities that he demonstrated in the navigation toward all of the benchmarks that everybody is well aware of.
Coming out of the TARP payments?
Well, coming out of the TARP, recovering the (deferred tax assets), gaining control over the classified assets, and then returning to profitability. And then returning to a momentum that I think pretty clearly puts us in a position to go forward and be successful long-term.
Was there ever a point you thought Synovus was going to fail or be sold?
I didn't think it would happen, but it was a possibility. Basically the difference is always: Are the regulators convinced that you deserve to make it? And Kessel was able to convince the regulators that we deserved to make it. It was a magnificent demonstration of exceptional leadership.
As you replay the events that led into that, obviously a lot of it was out of your control -- the economic stuff -- but some of it was within the control of the officers of the bank. There were some loans that ended up not being good loans. An example of that was the Sea Island situation. Can you talk about that?
Not really. I can say this: that first, the CEO is 100 percent responsible for everything that takes place in a company. That's whether they're involved in it or not; they're the CEO. And I take 100-percent responsibility for that and everything else that occurred during my time as CEO.
But, I can't really talk about it as it relates to me or as it relates to the company because, one, it would violate a confidential customer relationship to give any conversation from me. And, two, unlike the 35 years I served as CEO, I'm not the spokesman for Synovus anymore, and Kessel is the designee. So, when you go to talking about the company, and you start talking about Sea Island, or you talk about really anything that has to do with the operation of the company, then the spokesman for the company is the one that can talk about it.
I went through a period where there were lawsuits, and that of course puts a muzzle on you. And now say explaining my take on that situation or any other, I'm pretty much limited. I can say this: the people at Synovus know exactly what happened. They know the facts about that particular relationship, and they have always been very supportive of me in connection with that and everything else.
You talked about the lawsuits. There were shareholder lawsuits involving Sea Island and other issues. Your entire career you have been held up as the benchmark for ethical standards.
Yes, thank you.
Do you feel like that put a stain on this reputation that you have?
No, I really don't. I think your reputation is made over a long period of time by what you do and who you are. And it doesn't bother me that I can't talk about this particular thing because your reputation is not based on what you say about yourself.
So, I'm not concerned about that. I don't think your reputation is really tainted or damaged too much by, really, information that is contained in a allegation in a lawsuit. I think CEO's are in lawsuits. ... That goes with the territory.
In an allegation in a lawsuit, people want to throw in everything but the kitchen sink. So, no, it doesn't bother me. People think what they think and folks like you have a lot to do with what people think, but ultimately, it is what people do and who they are that determines what people think of them.
Who is Jimmy Blanchard?
Well, I think that I'm a relatively ordinary person who at a very young age had an extremely extraordinary opportunity. My father had been president of CB&T. I was practicing law in one of the great law firms in Columbus, and when he died very young with lung cancer, the Turner-Butler-Corn families asked me to come be the president of CB&T.
How old were you?
I was 28 at the time. So, that's how a guy like me got to do what I did for as long as I did. I started really young. Had my last name not been Blanchard, I'm confident that I would not have been picked, but they have explained this to me over the years that I had been very active, very involved in leadership positions throughout high school and college and in the Army and as a lawyer.
And they decided that I had the ability to do what they asked me to do. When Mr. D.A. Turner asked me, my reaction was shock, and I said, "Mr. Turner, I can't even balance my own checking account." He basically laughed that off and said they would get somebody to help me with that part. But you know, I feel like -- and I've taught this over and over in our leadership training at Synovus, CB&T, TSYS -- that leadership has been such a big part of our culture. And I've taught that people have capabilities so far beyond what they would ever dream they had if they work hard, they dig deep, they clean up their acts, if they develop an inner strength.
I've always, without preaching to our people, told them that most people work on their physical muscles and their intellectual capabilities, but so often the spiritual strength is neglected. And the Bible teaches that when the storm comes, if we have built our house on rock it will withstand it. So, faith has been a major part; it is a heritage of mine.
My family for generations have been strong in the Christian faith, and I think that's part of who I am. It's a part that I have tried to infuse, not by trying to evangelize people, but by trying to point out faith principals that work in the marketplace, as well as in your personal life.
How big a part of you is Sis?
My children say she's been the rock in our family, and I think that's accurate. She's so strong in her Christian faith. She seeks to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on a daily basis. That's who she is, that's what she articulates, and I think she is one of the best examples of somebody who really lives their faith every day all day long as anybody I've ever seen or known.
As part of your faith, you do a lot of charitable work in this community. You brought Teen Challenge's headquarters here, and that's the tip of it. Talk a little about how Teen Challenge fits into your faith.
It is a big part of it. Teen Challenge, as you know, is a residential program for people who have struggled with life-altering addictions. And we have centers in 107 countries, we have over 2,000 centers, and we have over 28,000 students -- we call them -- housed in those centers.
It is a strong faith-based model and the consequence of that, we believe, is that if you compare it to the state and secular drug treatment programs, the success rate of our graduates dramatically exceeds the success rate of the state and secular programs. They would be in the 10 or 20 percent at best, and Teen Challenge, on the basis of two evaluations, runs between a 70 and 80 percent success rate, that people just don't go back to their addiction.
They are cured basically; they're healed. And they are infused with the gospel, they are infused with Bible studies, they are infused with praise and worship opportunities, they are taught who God is and what He's made available to His people, His church. And their hearts change and they recover.
It's the most remarkable thing, and I would say that Sis and I became really strong advocates maybe 15 years ago. She likes to say that Teen Challenge is like the early church -- that they don't compete with each other, they help each other, they love each other, one center will be supporting another center. ... I am exposed and Sis is exposed to a lot of people who have struggled with this addiction issue that is massive in the world. And some of them feel so useless, they feel so embarrassed, they feel so bad about themselves because of where they have been.
So many of them have been at the bottom of the pit. They have been in jail, they have been living in cars, torn up their families, everybody has lost confidence in them. And yet, what I like to say to them is, "Look, people like me who from the outside looking in look like they own the world, we need the Lord just as much as you do, because all of us are subject to failure and failing. So, you shouldn't be embarrassed, you should not feel bad, that in Jesus there's life and there's hope, and there's promise and there is blessings, and there is goodness ahead.
When you look at the philanthropic side of this community, how do you explain it to people you meet from wherever?
To be totally candid about it, the story begins with the Bradley-Turner Foundation. You know, these public companies in Columbus are an incredible force, but the most powerful force, certainly in the early years, was that family and that foundation. Bill Turner and Weezie Butler and Betty Corn, and their spouses, and then their children, and now their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren, have been in my opinion the most powerful force for good in this community.
And certainly the philanthropic part has emanated from their generosity. It's contagious. Others have picked up the ball and run with it in such a way. Look around this town -- the generosity to Columbus State, the generosity to the Columbus Challenge where a big part of that was the RiverCenter -- there's monuments to the Bradley-Turner family and then the generosity of an entire community everywhere you look.
If you look, Columbus State University is obviously a public university, part of the University System of Georgia. But the Columbus State University we see today doesn't exist without philanthropic efforts from Columbus, right?
Right. ... Columbus State University, outside of the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State -- the three big research universities -- has the strongest record of support financially from the community of any of the other 30 -- or whatever the number is these days -- universities in the system.
Why is that?
It's that generosity that exists here. And look, we can laugh about this, but one time I went to Bill Turner, it's maybe 20 years ago, and I said, "Bill, we've got to slow down on this; y'all are about to break us." And he just laughed.
...Bill's vision, that family's vision for the community and its improvement and quality of life for the people has been such a driving force. I can't think of another city really in the country that on a per capita basis has the generosity that we have here.
A lot of that goes back to Mr. Turner, right?
Yeah, and Bill usually is that focal point, but Bill would be the first to tell you that his entire family has been that driving force. When you look back at history, Bill Turner, Weezie Butler and Betty Corn, the three children of D.A. Turner and grandchildren of W.C. Bradley, they were at the forefront of almost all of that progress. They were personally involved in the Historic District coming back, the Springer, Uptown, the RiverCenter, everything.
You probably know Mr. Turner as well as anyone in town. ... What is your relationship with Mr. Turner?
It's deep and wide and broad. And I do think probably, outside of his own children and maybe family, that I have one of the strongest friendships and relationships with him, and I feel like I know him almost as well as anybody. He is the most ultimately fair man that I've ever met, and also a man who on every decision, every step of his day, lives the Word of God. He is more than just a follower; he's an example of how to do it right. And he has this generosity and vision and this desire for this community, and he's the guy who really wrote the book, and you guys at the paper really executed it about getting this community together ...
Beyond 2000?
Beyond 2000, and set a pattern of it wasn't some elite group over here deciding what we're going to do. Some of the vision may have come from that, but Columbus has become a community that is interested in what the people want and bringing the people into it.
And that's why so many good things have happened here. You just don't have the community resistance or the community agnostics that just don't care. We've got a lot of people in town that feel like that this is their town and they've got a piece of the action. And I think Bill Turner is the guy who set that tone. He didn't want it to be an "us" thing. He wanted it to be a "we" thing.
But when the history of the 20th century of Columbus is written, will he be the single most important figure?
No question about it. And look, I've been involved in so much of all of this all of the years, but I consider myself a soldier in Bill Turner's army. He's the five-star general, and I'm one of the guys out there in the field. That's the way I think of him.
As you look in this century and going forward, who is the next Bill Turner?
Well, I don't know if you ever replace a Bill Turner. I think you have incredible members of that family. You look around and you see Steve Butler, you see Brad Turner, and John Turner does the RiverCenter, and Elizabeth Ogie's involved in so many great things, Betsy Ramsey. Those are just examples, but their children are in the middle.
Who might emerge as the focal point? Right now you might say Steve Butler is probably the one. I don't think his goal in life is to replace anybody. I think his goal in life is to be Steve Butler and to be the person that he is and the guy that's involved in so many great things now. I think that would go for all of them.
The Bradley-Turner family seems to be thinking very strategically if you look by bringing in Marc Olivie to run CharBroil or run the W.C. Bradley Co. Marc was certainly a different type of selection.
The first time a family member has not run the company.
And Marc has done a good job with it, right?
He's done better than good. I mean, it's incredible how well he's done, and I have the pleasure of serving on that board. I've been on that board for over 40 years.
You're on every board, aren't you?
Not all of them, but I'm on a lot of them. Marc is a real professional. He is an incredible leader. He has as good a feel for running a business of anybody I've seen in a long, long time. And I think he's done great things with the W.C. Bradley Co. He and his wife have just melded into the community. They are both very active and she just got a big award. And that's because they are players. They really get in the game.
What is going to be the legacy of Jimmy Blanchard?
It's not for me to say.
You've got an idea of what you think it is though, don't you?
Well, the legacy concept really ultimately becomes what a person did and who they are and what they stand for, what their value system is -- what the world view is shapes what you do. And there again, I don't know that anybody is particularly interested in what my legacy will be. And if they are, that's wonderful. And if they aren't, that's fine too. I'm writing a book right now with Ken Blanchard.
Who is a well-known leadership ....
Well, he's one of the great authors of all time. I thought at times he might fire me as one of his co-authors because I've been pretty dilatory about my side of the bargain. But, the reason I haven't really gotten churning and committed to finishing it is that I never wanted to really write a book.
I decided I was going to do it, but the reason I didn't want to write one is that I didn't feel any calling to the world as an audience. I really never felt a calling to even the community as an audience. I felt like my calling, Chuck, was to the people that worked at Synovus and TSYS.
What's the title?
I don't have a title yet. Ken has suggested a title or two, but we haven't picked one yet.
As you sit here, 73 years old, looking at your life kind of in a reflective manner, particularly as you write a book, any regrets?
Oh yeah. I have some regrets.
I did like most everybody else that's young that was in a position of authority. I made most every mistake you can make -- commission and omission. And I made the mistake a lot of executives make when they are building their companies. I didn't neglect my children and I didn't neglect my wife, but I fell in the trap that so many busy executives fall into. And the way I like to describe it is that people that do what I did, there's tremendous benefits and rewards, but you pay a really significant price because of the pull and the commitment.
You pay a lot of that price in time, right?
You know, I coached my boys in their athletics, I went to most of the games, I went to the school plays and the teachers' meetings, but sometimes when I was there, I really wasn't there. And I felt like while I've been a Christian since I was 7 -- in summer camp, in church camp, you go commit your life -- I didn't have the focus on it that I do now and have for quite some time now.
I talk a better game of it than I lived it. I even went to my boys pretty recently and apologized to them for that, and told them I didn't totally take my place as the father and the husband that the Bible would ordain me to take, and that I wanted to tell them that and seek their forgiveness. I mainly wanted to do it because I didn't want to ever feel like they had to make that same apology to their children.
So, that was a regret. I have mainly wonderful memories, not a lot of regrets about the business. There were some acquisitions I made I wish I hadn't made, but most of them were really significantly good. I made some personnel decisions that turned out to be not so good, but when you're making them in the volumes we have to make, making a few bad ones is just part of the deal.
But no, my personal, spiritual life commitment at the level that I think a person should make it -- to be the person God wants them to be -- came later for me than I wish it had. I wish I had focused a lot more on that and not quite been pulled into the community, the vision, the companies that I was. And fortunately I didn't run off the track in the process, but I would have chosen to make that deeper spiritual commitment much earlier in my career. So, that's pretty personal, but you asked me about regrets and there you've got it.
BioName: Jimmy BlanchardAge: 73Job: Chairman of the Board of Advisors, Jordan-Blanchard Capital; retired chairman and chief executive officer, SynovusEducation: Columbus High School, 1959; University of Georgia, degree in business-finance, 1963; University of Georgia School of Law, 1965Family: Frances “Sis,” his wife of 49 years; children Jimmy, Billy and David Blanchard; eight grandchildren
This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Sunday Interview with Jimmy Blanchard: 'I think your reputation is made over a long period of time by what you do and who you are'."