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Board of Directors
Earl Bentz
Denny Bottorff
Tom Flynn
Julie Frist
Stephen B. Smith
Richard E. Thornburgh
Claire Tucker
James Stephen “Jay” Turner, Jr
Toby Wilt
Earl Bentz
Earl Bentz is president and CEO of Triton Boats, a company he sold to Brunswick Corporation in 2005. Mr. Bentz began his work history in 1966 with Jenk’s Marine in Charleston, South Carolina, moving to Nashville in 1974 to work for Hydra-Sports Boats. He was vice-president and general manager of Hydra from 1980-1983. In 1983, he formed Stratos Boats as a start-up company, selling the company to Outboard Marine Corporation in 1987. He was president of Outboard Marine, Fishing Boat Division, from 1987-1996. He resigned from Outboard Marine in 1996 to form Triton Boats, another entrepreneurial venture.
Mr. Bentz has served on the boards of directors of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Middle Tennessee Council, Boy Scouts of America, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation, the National Association of Boat Manufacturers, the National Marine Manufacturers’ Association, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, and the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation.
Mr. Bentz attended Clemson University from 1969-1971, studying pre-veterinarian medicine. He has continued his education at Vanderbilt University through continuing education programs in business finance and has completed the Dale Carnegie Human Relations courses and training. Mr. Bentz’s background includes extensive experience in commercial real estate development and start-up businesses. He is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hunting and fishing. He and his wife Janet live in Nashville and have three daughters. Mr. Bentz is an Organizer and Director of the Bank.
Denny Bottorff
Denny Bottorff currently serves as co-founder and managing partner of Council Ventures, a venture capital firm located in Nashville, Tennessee. He received his B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1966, and his M.B.A. from Northwestern University in 1968. Mr. Bottorff began his career in banking in 1968 at the former Commerce Union Bank in Nashville. After serving in numerous positions, including Head of Retail Banking, Strategic Planning, Corporate and International Banking, he was named President in 1981 and CEO shortly thereafter. When Commerce Union Bank merged with Sovran Financial in 1987 Mr. Bottorff became President of Sovran and moved to Norfolk, VA. He continued in this position when Sovran merged with C & S Bank in Atlanta, creating the nation’s fifth largest bank. Mr. Bottorff returned in Nashville in 1991 to become CEO of First American National Bank. After First American’s successful turnaround and rebuilding, AmSouth Bancorporation acquired First American in 1999. Mr. Bottorff served as AmSouth’s chairman until his retirement in January 2001.
Throughout his career in banking, Mr. Bottorff has served in several industry leadership positions, including directorships with the Tennessee and American Banking Associations and the Financial Services Roundtable. Mr. Bottorff serves on the boards of Ingram Industries, Vanderbilt University and the Tennessee Valley Authority. He has served on several corporate boards including Dollar General Corporation and Shoney, Inc. among others.
In addition to his business activities, Mr. Bottorff is active in community affairs having served on several community and nonprofit boards of which he has chaired numerous including the Tennessee Educational Lottery Corporation, the Board of the United Way, the Nashville Symphony, the Chamber of Commerce, the Children’s Hospital, the Titans Advisory Board, and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
Mr. Bottorff and his wife Jean have two children and four grandchildren, and are active members of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Mr. Bottorff is an Organizer of the Bank and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Tom Flynn
Tom Flynn serves as a director at Flynn Enterprises, LLC, a family owned, multi-national garment manufacturing, sales and distribution company headquartered in Hopkinsville, Ky. His responsibilities include leadership of the sales and distribution divisions, coordination of international and domestic operations, and oversight of the company's legal matters.
Mr. Flynn grew up in Hopkinsville where he attended University Heights Academy. He attended Vanderbilt University as a National Merit Scholar, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1996. He attended Vanderbilt Law School and received his J.D. in 1999. He is currently a member of the Kentucky Bar Association.
Mr. Flynn lives in Hopkinsville, where he has been an active member of First United Methodist Church. He is a supporter of a number of civic and charitable organizations. He has taught at Vanderbilt Law School as an adjunct professor and sat on the Vanderbilt Law School Alumni Advisory Board.
Julie Frist
Julie Frist is an Organizer of the Bank and serves on its Board of Directors. Ms. Frist graduated from Yale University in 1993 and from the Harvard Business School in 1997. Following graduation, she worked in the Investment Banking Division and the Private Client Services group at Goldman Sachs in New York City and later for Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., a New York-based private equity firm. Ms. Frist has served on the boards of St. Paul’s School (Concord, NH); the Oasis Center (Nashville, TN); Anchor (New York, NY); The Women’s Fund (Nashville, TN) and the Nashville chapter of The Red Cross. Ms. Frist and her husband, Tommy Frist III, live in Nashville with their three children
Stephen B. Smith
Stephen B. Smith is chairman of the board of Haury & Smith Contractors. Inc. Haury & Smith is one of Nashville's oldest development and home building companies, serving the area for more than 50 years. He resides on a farm in Williamson County, where he raises cattle, Standardbred racehorses and Tennessee Walking Horses. Married to the former Denise Stinson, they have two children, Stephen Smith. Jr. and Matthew Smith.
Mr. Smith is very involved in community affairs, having served on numerous civic and business boards. In conjunction with his business activities, he served on the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Commission, the Regional Transit Authority, and was both member and chairman of the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Nashville Parks and Recreation. He served on the Advisory Board of First Union National Bank, the Board of Directors of Franklin Road Academy, and the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati. In 2007, he was awarded the MS Hope Award by the National MS Society Mid South Chapter, and he currently is a member of the MS Society's Board of Directors.
He attended Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he studied business finance and earned three letters on the varsity baseball team, winning the Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 1976. He served on the Board of Directors of the Blue Raider Athletic Association, on the President's Council, chaired the search committee naming a new Athletic Director, and was inducted into the Blue Raider Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. He is spearheaded the effort to raise $5 million to build a new world-class baseball facility named after his father, Reese L. Smith. Jr., at MTSU. Family and sports have long been an over-riding passion in Mr. Smith's life and his fondest memories are of 40 years of baseball, as a player and a coach, including more than 14 years spent coaching his two sons.
Another passion of Mr. Smith’s is horses. He has served both on the Board of Directors and as a two-term president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association. He served on the Advisory Board of the Walking Horse National Celebration, and was the chairman of the National Horse Show Commission. As a rider, he has won 10 World Championships, culminating in 1982 as the Amateur World Grand Champion. He was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame in 2001.
Always involved in politics, from local city and county races to state and national elections, he served as national finance co-chair for Lamar Alexander's Presidential campaigns. He also achieved the level of Super Ranger (one of three in Tennessee) in President Bush's 2004 campaign. He was the national finance chairman for former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s leadership political action committee, VOLPAC, and finance chairman for Alexander for Senate 2008.
Richard E. Thornburgh
Richard E. Thornburgh is vice chairman of Corsair Capital LLC (“Corsair”), a private equity investment company with more than $2 billion invested in financial services companies worldwide, including banks, insurers, asset managers and specialty lenders. Mr. Thornburgh is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank. He also served as a Director of Dollar General Corporation prior to its sale to KKR, and National City Corporation prior to its sale to PNC Financial. He serves and on the Board and chairs the risk committee of both NewStar Financial, Inc and Credit Suisse Corp.
Prior to joining Corsair in 2006, Mr. Thornburgh was executive vice chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston (“CSFB”), now operating under the name of Credit Suisse. He has more than 30 years of experience in the global banking and financial services sector, and held a number of senior leadership positions at Credit Suisse Group.
Mr. Thornburgh began his investment banking career with The First Boston Corporation, a predecessor firm of CSFB in 1976. He spent 20 years in the investment-banking department specializing in financial institutions. During that period, he also ran the Los Angeles office in the late 1980s and was the first global head of the financial institutions group for CSFB. He was an advisor on many of the landmark M&A transactions that took place during the consolidation of the U.S. regional banking industry in the 1980s and early 1990s. He spearheaded CSFB's mandate to advise on the privatization of the Mexican banking industry, the recapitalization of the California thrift industry, and served as advisor to the governments of Sweden, New Zealand, South Australia, Mexico and Australia in the early 1990s.
During the past 10 years, he has served on the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group and his executive responsibilities included: chief financial and administrative officer of CSFB, chief financial officer of Credit Suisse Group, vice chairman of the Executive Board of CSFB, and chief risk officer of Credit Suisse Group.
Mr. Thornburgh is a former member of the Financial Services Roundtable and the International Institute of Finance. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Securities Industry Association ("SIA") for six years, and was Chairman of the SIA in 2004. He serves on the Executive Committee of the University of Cincinnati Foundation and is on the University of Cincinnati Investment Committee. He has also serves on the Investment Committee of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City.
Mr. Thornburgh received a BBA, cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1974 and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1976.
Claire Tucker
Claire Tucker serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank and as a Director. Ms. Tucker is a senior banking executive with thirty-two years’ experience in the Business Banking field. Most recently, Ms. Tucker has served as senior vice-president/Metro Markets and city president (Nashville) for FirstBank, a $1.7 billion community bank headquartered in Lexington, Tennessee. Ms. Tucker was responsible for overseeing the bank’s sales and marketing activities in the major metropolitan markets in Tennessee and was responsible for development of the Bank’s market presence in Nashville. During her tenure, FirstBank was recognized by the Nashville Post as one of the Top 20 Emerging Companies in Nashville. Prior to joining FirstBank in late 2001, Ms. Tucker was with AmSouth Bank in Nashville, a $42 billion commercial bank with offices in seven states. She served as a senior executive vice-president for AmSouth with responsibility for all Business Banking activities in six southeastern states and New York. She was a member of an 11-person management committee chaired by the chief executive officer that was charged with oversight of all activities of the company, including strategic planning, tactical execution and delivery of financial results. From 1975-1999, Ms. Tucker was with First American Corporation, Nashville, Tennessee, which was merged with and into AmSouth in 1999. Beginning as a management trainee in 1975, Ms. Tucker advanced to become president of corporate banking for First American in 1997.
Ms. Tucker earned a B.S. in Accounting from Tennessee Wesleyan College in 1975 and certification in 1982 as a Certified Management Accountant. She is a graduate of Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University (1982), also earning an MBA from the University of Tennessee/Tennessee State University that same year.
Ms. Tucker is active in the community having served on the executive committee for Ingram Entertainment; on the board of the Nashville Ballet; chair of St. Luke’s Community House; member of the advancement committee of Tennessee Wesleyan College; vice-chair of the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation; member of the advisory council of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands; member of the boards of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee and the YW Advisory Board; foundation trustee for Brentwood United Methodist Church; and a member of the PENCIL Foundation. Ms. Tucker was a member of the 1995-1996 Class of Leadership Nashville and program co-chair for the class of 1996-1997; she served as the chair of the audit committee and secretary/treasurer of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation from 2003-2008. Other community activities have included leadership roles in organizations that help feed and shelter the poor of the community, raise money for the United Way; and bring management and infrastructure strength to the greater Nashville area. Ms. Tucker has one son and lives in Brentwood, Tennessee.
James Stephen “Jay” Turner, Jr
James Stephen “Jay” Turner, Jr has served as the Director of Development for Marketstreet Equities Company and Marketstreet Management Company since February 2000. Mr. Turner was appointed Managing Director of Marketstreet Enterprises in April 2007. He received his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1992 and his J. D. degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1999. Mr. Turner is a member of the board of directors of the Farmers National Bank Financial Corporation in Scottsville, Kentucky. He has served on the non-profit boards of the Adventure Science Center, the Ingram Cancer Center, and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Mr. Turner and his wife, Christi, attend First Presbyterian Church with their two children. Mr. Turner is an Organizer of the Bank and on its Board of Directors.
Toby Wilt
Toby Wilt has been involved with banking since 1978. A graduate of Vanderbilt University (1967, B.E., Civil Engineering), Mr. Wilt is also a non-practicing certified public accountant, having practiced accountancy with Ernst & Ernst, Certified Public Accountants, from 1969-1972 as a senior accountant. He worked in research and corporate finance with J. C. Bradford & Company from 1972-1973, and was president and CEO of Hillsboro Enterprises, Inc. (1977-1986) after serving as the company’s secretary and treasurer from 1973-1976. Mr. Wilt has served as president of TSW Investment Company (from 1987); as founder and president of Golf Club of Tennessee (from 1988); chairman of the board of Christie Cookie Company (from 1989); director of 1st Source Corporation, having served on the company’s executive, audit and compensation committees through December 31, 2007. 1st Source Corporation is a bank holding company domiciled in South Bend, Indiana with total assets of almost $4 billion. Mr. Wilt has served on the boards of Outback Steakhouse, Inc., TLC Corporation, First American National Bank (Nashville, TN), (the former) Commerce Union Bank (Nashville, TN), Williamson County Bank (Franklin, TN), Jacques Miller, Inc. (Nashville, TN), Central South Bancorp (Franklin, TN), C & S Sovran (Norfolk, VA), Sovran Financial Corporation (Norfolk, VA), Club Car, Inc. (Augusta, GA), Genesco, Inc. (Nashville, TN), Planters Bank & Trust Company (Hopkinsville, KY), Davis Cabinet Company (Nashville, TN), Third National Bank (now SunTrust Bank) (Nashville, TN), Volunteer Capital Corporation (Nashville, TN), and Titan Holdings, Inc. (San Antonio, TX). Mr. Wilt has held various positions with the financial institutions on whose boards he has served, including service on various executive, finance, compensation, asset policy, audit and marketing committees. Mr. Wilt’s banking experiences have included small community banks to multi-billion dollar financial companies.
Active in his community through his private foundation and in other ways, Mr. Wilt has a long and distinguished history of commitment to local organizations. He has served on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Transit Authority; on the board of directors of the Belle Meade County Club; in various roles in the Young Presidents Organization from 1983-1987; as vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority; as a member of the board of advisors of the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Belmont University (1987-present); and as chairman of the World Presidents Organization from 2000-2001.
Mr. Wilt was raised in Evanston, Illinois; he is married to the former Lucianne Forcum. Together they have six children and step-children and nine grandchildren. The Wilts are members of First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Wilt undertook pilot training (1968-1969) with the United States Air Force, receiving his wings in June 1969. He flew with his Reserve Unit until 1975. An avid golfer, Mr. Wilt is a member of the Golf Club of Tennessee, the Belle Meade County Club, Seminole Golf Club and Bay Colony Golf Club. Mr. Wilt is an Organizer of the Bank and on the Board of Directors.
