PINE BLUFF -- Stories involving Dr. Harry Ryburn's time on the Simmons Bank board are plentiful.
Commit to anything for 40 years -- a career, a town, a board, a spouse -- and folks are sure to have picked up on a few tendencies and anecdotes they enjoy sharing about you.
Ryburn was perhaps best known, they'll tell you, for meticulously studying the bank's financial reports. Occasionally Ryburn, who stepped down this month after hitting the board's mandatory retirement age of 80, would get so locked in on reviewing documents that he would, as his wife of 58 years recalls, bring them to bed at night.
So when Simmons Bank looked for ways to recognize the retired orthodontist's service at its annual shareholders meeting, it was clear that calling Ryburn onstage to present a commemorative clock and medallion, then calling it a night weren't going to be enough.
So as a nod to Ryburn's love of the numbers, he was presented with leather-bound copies of Simmons Bank annual reports. Each of the 40 years Ryburn served on the board are included thanks to research from Rex Nelson, the bank's head of marketing.
Those documents detail a bank that has seen its assets grow by 5,200 percent since Ryburn joined the board in 1976. A loan to Ryburn for a home, vehicle and dental equipment were included in the bank's $188 million worth of assets at the time.
"Everything good that's happened at Simmons the last 40 years, Dr. Ryburn has been a part of," CEO George Makris Jr. said. "Certainly, there have been other folks who have come and gone, but the constant has been Dr. Ryburn and his leadership. ... I'm glad we were able to hang onto you for 40 years."
Hiring Makris to lead the bank in 2014 despite no career experience in banking, by the way, is credited largely to Ryburn. Makris had served on a number of bank boards through the years but was known professionally for his role in leading a family beer distributorship.
Ryburn figured there were already enough "brilliant bankers" within the organization. What Simmons Bank needed was someone who knew how to run a business, an "outside-the-box" thinker who had experience building on past success.
Makris has lived up to the expectations Ryburn laid out to other board members. His understanding of market share has helped push the bank's recent growth.
Simmons Bank is on track for $10 billion in assets. Makris isn't shy about this.
Currently the institution has operations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas, with an eye on Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas for future expansion. Makris also noted opportunities for growth in regions where the bank is currently operating.
Ryburn seems pleased with the direction things are headed. Simmons' recently reported its income was up 170 percent from the first quarter of 2015. That follows growth of 90 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the final three months of 2015.
"Collectively, right now, the directors on both the corporate and bank board are the strongest group of directors the bank has ever had," Ryburn told shareholders during his retirement address.
Today the bank has nearly $8 billion in assets and has not been shy about its plans for acquisitions and hitting the $10 billion benchmark. Quite a jump from under $190 million in 1976.
During the past four decades, the bank's stock prices have grown from $0.63 per share to $51.46. A $1,000 investment in 1976 would be worth $103,000 today if you factor in dividends and stock splits.
That's growth of an astounding 10,207 percent if, like Ryburn, you're keeping score and home and can't help but focus on the numbers.
If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-2972 or email him at
cbahn@nwaonline.com
SundayMonday Business on 04/24/2016