Bill Alverson
There can be a false modesty or sense of hyperbole when someone spreads credit for success. But with Bill Alverson, a conversation with him will demonstrate how much he values the office community that makes up a community bank.
“There are so many people in our organization who are key to our success. Some people look at one man with a title at a bank as running the bank, but it’s a team effort, thoroughly,” Alverson said in the downtown Lexington office where he’s served as president of Traditional Bank since 1998, and where he’ll still sit when he takes over as CEO, following current chairman and CEO Bill Bramblet’s retirement at year’s end. Bramblet will stay on as board chair.
“We’ve always been able to be in a meeting with the management group and we might not all agree, but when we come out of the room, whatever the agreement is, we’re all pushing in the same direction,” Alverson said. “That’s what’s really rewarding if you’ve been involved in sports or any kind of team experience — to move forward as a team and to maintain that culture. It’s paramount to us.”
Heading a team was what Alverson wanted to do after his college graduation when he accepted a position as a health and physical education teacher at his alma mater, Paris High School, so he also could serve as an assistant football coach.
Paris was where Alverson was returning from just before he sat down with Business Lexington. He had asked to have colleague Andy Baker, who will succeed him as Traditional’s president, join the interview, but as the ‘Face to Face’ feature is formatted for one-on-one perspective, Alverson acquiesced to keeping it solo. Still, he stressed the success of his bank was thanks to many more people than himself.
“Our growth is a result of the great people we have here, and referrals from our friends and customers — people who had a good experience here and said nice things about our bank to someone else, and they would come to our bank. That’s the culture, and that’s something we don’t want to lose,” he said.
Since a 1988 merger brought Montgomery Bank and Trader’s Bank together to form the bank that would become Traditional in 1996, the institution has grown more than ten-fold.
“Since that time, all the growth of this bank has been organic,” Alverson said. “There haven’t been any acquisitions, and it’s grown from around $100 million to over $1.1 billion.”
He credits that to former owner Jay Clifton Stilz, who Alverson said instilled a moral compass and way of doing business in him and his co-workers.
“You look back on your career when people take a chance and give you an opportunity, and I had a lot of mentors in life. I was very fortunate for Mr. (Tracy) Farmer [and] Mr. Stilz taking a chance on a young man,” Alverson said. Farmer hired Alverson as his driver while contemplating a bid for governor in 1983, and he kept Alverson aboard after taking over the state Democratic Party, working in state government and later buying a bank.
About Bill Alverson
Age: 58
Previous Employment: Citizen's Union Bank (1984-86), Farmer's Exchange Bank (1986-91), Fifth Third Bank (1991-98), Traditional Bank (1998-present)
Education: Education degree from Georgetown College
Hometown: Paris, Ky