In the competitive world of banking, you're either “growing and moving forward or losing ground.”
Those are the words of Dennis Upchurch, who's served as president and chief executive officer of CB&S Bank the past 27 years.
As Upchurch prepares for his retirement at the end of this month, there's no doubt the direction his bank has moved for nearly three decades under his leadership.
Upchurch began with CB&S Bank in 1988 as executive vice president and president-elect after Gene Pace announced he would retire as bank president in 1990. At the time, CB&S, still known as Citizens Bank and Savings, had branches in Russellville, Red Bay and Hodges, and assets in the range of $72 million.
Today, CB&S Bank has 55 branches in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi and assets totaling $1.635 billion.
“We're the fifth-largest bank in total assets of banks headquartered in Alabama. We want to get up to that $2 and $3 billion mark and continue to grow. In banking, you're either growing and moving forward or losing ground,” Upchurch said. “We're doing real well and exceeding budget expectations. We're in as good a shape with the regulators as we've ever been. We have well-trained, motivated employees so it's a good time to leave while the bank is profitable and growing."
A graduate of the University of Mississippi and a veteran of the Mississippi banking industry, Upchurch served as president and CEO of Corinth-based Alcorn Bank and Trust and he started with Clay County Bank in West Point, Miss.
It wasn't CB&S Bank that brought Upchurch to Alabama. He came to Franklin County in 1984 to organize Valley State Bank, where he served as the bank's first president. Valley State Bank opened its doors April 1, 1985.
He later met Cecil Batchelor, CB&S' chairman of the board, at a conference and the two became friends. That friendship led to Upchurch making a career move three years later.
“When Gene announced his retirement I heard through a mutual friend the bank was interested in me. I visited with Cecil several times. Valley State Bank ($18 million in assets) was a smaller bank as Citizens Bank was $72 million in size, so that's what got me interested,” Upchurch said.
“Cecil and I both shared a desire to see profitable growth and one of our strong suits was the ability to work with the staff and boards of the banks we acquired to turn a not-so-good situation into one good for them and us too,” he added.
Citizens Bank's first acquisition came inside Franklin County with the purchase of Phoenix Federal branches in Russellville and Red Bay in the early 1990s. That was followed by the acquisition of First State Bank in Phil Campbell.
Upchurch and the bank's board of directors had the further vision to expand into other states and that process began with the purchase of the Bank of Faulkner, the first Mississippi expansion, with branches in Ripley, Walnut and Corinth.
As the bank continued to grow, it ran into a problem with its name, something Upchurch took an active hand in solving.
“We'd had the name Citizens Bank since 1906 but as we were growing, we were going into markets where there were already Citizens Banks so we engaged a marketing company and had a contest for the best new name for the bank,” Upchurch said.
“One day I said why not just use the initials for Citizens Bank and Savings Company and we changed officially to CB&S Bank, Inc."
After his retirement, Upchurch will remain on the bank's board of directors. He will also be available to work with and assist the new president if needed.
“Dennis is one of the finest bankers I've ever known and certainly one of the finest people I've ever met,” Batchelor said. “He's not only a good banker—he's a good man. We're not losing him completely. He'll remain on the board of directors and will continue to offer advice and counsel as time goes on to the person replacing him."
“He's been our leader and we've depended on his knowledge of banking. He certainly got us to where we are and we are thankful to have had Dennis here. We've seen the fruits of his labor in our growth and in our relationships with our customers which is so important,” Batchelor added.
While CB&S Bank has nearly 150 shareholders, the Batchelor family retains majority ownership and control of those shares. It may be a family-owned bank, but Upchurch said he was always made to feel part of that family.
“I have a very close relationship with Cecil and Greg (Batchelor). I think of them like family and I believe they think of me as family. Cecil and I are best friends. And since Greg became chairman, he and I have developed a close relationship and we talk every day. There's a lot of trust and confidence we have in each other,” Upchurch said.
Upchurch reflected on his 29-year tenure with CB&S, something of a rarity in the banking industry these days.
“I remember when Mr. Pace retired. He'd been here more than 20 years and he said how unusual it was for someone to stay with a bank that long. There are a lot of mergers in the banking industry and I'm fortunate and blessed to have been here almost 30 years,” Upchurch said.
After retiring, don't expect Upchurch to find the nearest rocking chair. He'll be 70 this week and Upchurch and his wife Sheila plan to remain active.
“Sheila and I bicycle a lot. We love to travel. And those are two things we will continue to do. Also, we're building a new home at Twin Pines Country Club so that will keep us busy for a while,” Upchurch said.
The couple will visit Michigan's Mackinac Island in August.
“It's going to be 100 degrees here and the temperature there is about 70 degrees so I'm looking forward to that,” Upchurch said. “Sheila and I are very blessed to be in good health and each of the last five years we've taken a trip overseas. The next one we want to do is Germany, Switzerland and maybe Austria."
Sheila volunteers with the Salvation Army and Meals on Wheels and Upchurch said he plans to get involved in some worthwhile community volunteer organizations. The couple is active in First United Methodist Church in Russellville, where Upchurch teaches an adult Sunday School class, and they want to sign up for some of the adult continuing education classes through the University of North Alabama.
He has served on the board of directors of the Alabama Bankers Association for more than a decade and Upchurch also serves on the board of directors of First National Bankers Bank, headquartered in Baton Rouge, La. He's past president of the Russellville Kiwanis Club and the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
From his first banking job in 1974 to today's version of that industry, Upchurch has seen tremendous change, although he says there remains one constant—character.
“When I started, a note and all the paperwork would fit in a 3”x8” plastic envelope. That's changed so much with compliance. To get a personal loan today, there's a thick tablet of forms. Some of that's good, with the truth in lending laws, for example,” Upchurch said.
“When I think about the changes from back then, we always relied a lot on a person's character. We knew our customers. There were credit bureaus but not every bank reported to them. If someone came in for a loan, we applied the 'three C's' of lending—collateral, cash flow and character. And character remains the most important even after 43 years in this business,” he added.
Even though today's credit scores are the primary consideration in lending, Upchurch said CB&S Bank remains a commercial bank and still does a lot of small business loans.
“Those loans are driven by relationships. We try to establish and maintain relationships with our customers and get to know both them and their business,” Upchurch said.
In Russellville, where 'everybody knows everybody,' there have been occasions where Upchurch has charged off a loan on a friend, fellow church member or neighbor. While such situations can be awkward, Upchurch said he never changes how he treats people.
“Over time I've realized 99 percent of people would pay us if they could have. When I see people in the community we have losses on, I speak to them, I'm nice to them and then if the time comes where their situation changes many of them come back and pay us. We do everything we can to try and avoid foreclosure on people by going the whole nine yards before we do that,” Upchurch said.
Upchurch said the bank expects to have a new president in place before July 31st, his last day, and he's been actively involved in the process of selecting his successor.
“We have some good people interested in the position and some we're interested in. Ideally, that news will be announced before I leave. I've been very active with the executive committee and search committee to help find my replacement. We've talked to some good folks and there's a lot of interest in the job,” Upchurch said.
Though he'll soon be out of the day-to-day operations of the bank, Upchurch said he will remain active in the community which embraced him back in 1984.
“I'd like to thank the people of Russellville and Franklin County for the great reception I've had here. I've never come to a community like this where you're accepted at face value,” Upchurch said. “When I came here to organize Valley State Bank, people accepted me and that's unusual for a community this size. I thank the community for accepting me and putting up with me all these years."
