Business hall of fame inductee Reynie Rutledge benefits from ‘right place, right time’
by February 9, 2020 8:29 pm 2,202 views
Business Hall of Fame inductee Reynie Rutledge says being in the ‘right place at the right time’ had a lot to do with his success.
On Friday (Feb. 7) four new members were inducted in the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, which is managed by the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business.
Gerald Alley, president and CEO of Con-Real LP; Olivia Farrell, retired CEO of Arkansas Business Publishing Group; Charles Nabholz, chairman emeritus for Nabholz Corp.; and Reynie Rutledge, chairman and CEO of First Security Bancorp were the four newest inductees.
Rutledge appeared on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics to discuss his induction, his career in banking, the growth of his firm, and the future of finance.
“You’ve always heard the term, the ‘right place at the right time.’ And ‘being lucky.’ The time period with which I entered banking and these opportunities came to me really happened to be at the right time in Arkansas and with the banking laws at that time,” Rutledge said.
With the help of his family, he acquired a small bank in Searcy, Arkansas in 1977 that had $46 million in assets. Today, First Security Bancorp, the holding company for First Security Bank, tops $6 billion in assets.
The banking laws he alludes to involve multi-bank holding companies and restrictive branching laws. In the mid-1990’s when those laws loosened up, it allowed banks like First Security to go on acquisition sprees as well as branch across county lines.
“That allowed a systematic expansion of either an acquisition, or once the branching laws changed, of branching into other areas of the state,” Rutledge recalls.
Rutledge’s three sons – John, Adam and Nathan – are all integral leaders in the bank today and Rutledge says he’s completely confident about the future of the financial institution. He also expects the technological wave that has redefined banking for the last few decades will continue to innovate to customers’ needs.
Watch Rutledge’s full interview in the video below.