Back in 1993, Thomas B. Kessinger had a brand new accounting degree from the University of
Kentucky and was planning a career as an accountant.
But his grandfather, then a financial consultant at Hilliard Lyons in Lexington, offered a different idea.
“I was all set to go to work for Coopers & Lybrand,” Kessinger recalled. “But my grandfather said, ‘Why don’t you come to work over here instead and learn something?’”
Kessinger wisely took the grandfatherly advice and joined Hilliard Lyons to learn the financial consulting business. Now, he’s just become the company’s new president.
Hilliard Lyons named Kessinger to the post in late May, with responsibility for day-to-day operations of the venerable financial firm and its 70 offices spread over Kentucky and 11 other states. A seat on the Hilliard Lyons board goes with the job.
Kessinger, 47, succeeds James R. Allen, who is remaining with Hilliard Lyons as CEO and board chairman.
“I feel honored to have this position,” Kessinger said. “You know, the U.S. Department of Labor has a new rule that requires financial advisors to be fiduciaries on retirement accounts. It says you have to put the client first.
“For us, who have been in business 163 years, our view is, ‘Of course you have to put the client first. You couldn’t be in business that long if you didn’t.”
A long history
Hilliard Lyons is one of America’s oldest investment firms, with roots reaching back to 1854.
A financial company called Quigley and Lyons began operating in Louisville that year. A firm called J.J.B. Hilliard went into business soon afterward. Following numerous reorganizations and name changes over the years, Hilliard and Lyons merged in 1965 to form the company we know today. The firm is jointly owned by its employees — it has about 990 workers — and Bowling Green-based Houchens Industries.
Hilliard Lyons currently has about $45 billion under management, including about $9 billion in its Kentucky-chartered trust company, according to Kessinger. That represents almost 170,000 individual accounts, he said.
After joining Hilliard Lyons in 1993, Kessinger spent the next several years as a financial consultant in the company’s Lexington offices, advising clients on investments. He shifted onto a management pathway a few years later and helped open the company’s Beaumont branch in 2009. Both steps led him toward the post of president.
He continued to advise clients, although being president will require him to focus on managing the company. Nevertheless, he said he’ll still “keep his hand in” by continuing to personally advise about 35 select client households. Kessinger said he thinks it’s crucial for him to remain “engaged in what the client is experiencing.”
Family in business
Kessinger grew up on Lexington’s south side and played football under Coach Roy Walton at Tates Creek High School, where he graduated in 1989. It was in high school that h e also got his first experience at Hilliard Lyons — pushing a broom.
“My grandfather was running the company’s office on North Upper then, and I was hired as the janitor,” he recalled. “Every night, I took out the trash, cleaned the ashtrays and made sure the coffee cups were ready for the next day’s business.”
After Kessinger joined Hilliard Lyons as a full-time employee, he and his grandfather worked there side by side for 15 years until his grandfather’s retirement. Kessinger remembers that as “a very special time I will never forget.”
Kessinger’s family actually has a long association with the investment firm. He, his father and his grandfather all worked at Hilliard Lyons. His brother, Ben Kessinger, now works at the company’s Beaumont branch.
Kessinger’s sister, Christy Hiler, is president of Team Cornett in Lexington.
Adjusting to the helm
Kessinger says he’s still transitioning into his new job, but admits that the pace already is hectic and will get more so. For example, he plans to visit every one of Hilliard Lyons’ 70 offices starting after Labor Day.
Being president already means dividing his time between Hilliard Lyons’ company headquarters in Louisville and its Lexington offices, where he worked his entire professional career until becoming president.
Right now, Kessinger works four days in Louisville and one day in Lexington each week, commuting back and forth. Eventually, he’ll move his family to Louisville, but he said that won’t happen until his youngest son, now a junior at Henry Clay High School, reaches graduation. Kessinger and his wife, Amy, also have a son and daughter in college.
Kessinger contends that the kind of personal investment advice Hilliard Lyons offers clients remains crucial in today’s era of computers and online investing services.
“This business is all about relationships,” he said. “My grandfather taught me that the way you build lasting relationships is to get out and meet people. Get involved with something you care about, become that person that people trust.
“What I love about the investment business is that you get to talk to people, and you get to serve them. You get to help them with something that is very personal. And that’s their money.”