Taylor Laid Building Blocks, Now Set to Tackle New Role

Jim Taylor’s entry into the Northwest Arkansas market was not a glamorous one.

“We started our group of banks up here from zero,” said Taylor, who came to Northwest Arkansas in April 1998 as a First Security Bank vice president. “When I moved up here, we didn’t have regulatory approval, we didn’t have a branch location. I started out just in a cubicle.”

Taylor said that cubicle, in the old offices of Lindsey Management Co., came with “a borrowed phone line.”

“I was a work force of one,” he added.

First Security had big plans, though, and it didn’t take long to get them rolling. In June 1999, the Searcy-based bank opened its still-gleaming complex along Fayetteville’s Joyce Boulevard. Today, it boasts 16 total locations.

“Probably for the first five or six years, I was more of a construction manager than I was a banker,” said Taylor, who was chosen as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 1999 Forty Under 40 class.

That might be Taylor’s way of deflecting credit, but there’s no denying he’s helped establish First Security as an industry leader in Northwest Arkansas. For starters, it ranks second in market share among its peers in both deposits and loans.

It also could soon add a couple of new locations.

“Those are in the works right now,” said Taylor, who now holds the title of regional president for Northwest Arkansas.

Taylor’s title, however, also figures to change in the near future. As of April 16, he will begin splitting his time between Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock.

Taylor will work there at the bank’s holding company, First Security Bancorp. He said his duties will include policy and procedures, and development throughout the state.

“Just trying to do everywhere else what we’ve done here in Northwest Arkansas,” he added.

While his time will be split about 50-50 between both locations, Taylor doesn’t foresee any drop-off in First Security’s performance in Northwest Arkansas. Recent data seems to support that belief, as First Security ranked first in both return on assets and return on equity among the area’s private banks — for the second consecutive year.

Taylor credited the bank’s leadership for most of that success.

“We’ve got some really good people that know when to take a risk and when not to take a risk,” he said.

Being well-capitalized and conservative by nature has also helped, Taylor added. Those factors and its standing among its peers has resulted in a strong public perception of First Security.

“I think it gives our customers a sense of assurance that, ‘Hey, we’re a strong, viable source of capital for their business needs or their banking needs,’” Taylor said.

“If your money’s safe, you can sleep better at night, and I think everybody feels like their money’s safe here with us.”

Taylor, 52, said his new role is “exhilarating,” and comes at a good time for him. While his oldest daughter, Brittney, will graduate from John Brown University in December, his youngest, Bailey, will start at the University of Arkansas in the fall.

Over the years, Taylor has become a reliable resource for groups like the United Way and Salvation Army, and some of that work will be pared down given his new work schedule. He’s still serving a second stint as volunteer general chairman for the annual LPGA tournament held in Rogers. Last year, he oversaw 754 volunteers at that event.

Taylor is quick to add his new duties won’t lessen his interest in Northwest Arkansas. Instead, he’s excited to see the area’s continued rebound from the national recession.

He’s proud of the way First Security has come through the troubled times, and hopeful the younger generation of area bankers has learned from the experience.

“Banking, just like a lot of things in business, is very cyclical,” Taylor said. “Fortunately, we’ve got some good, experienced bankers that have seen the highs and lows, unlike some of the other bankers in the area.

“They had only seen the highs and they didn’t know to brace themselves for the lows. … Hopefully with some of the young bankers that we’ve had here in Northwest Arkansas over the last 10 years, they’re going to have seen some of the escalation of the good times, but also remember some of the learning lessons we’ve had.

“Every day is a new day.”

And these days, it seems, that couldn’t be truer for Taylor.