Mark Stewart grew up on a cattle farm in the rural town of Ashville, Alabama with his father, who worked in a foundry in Birmingham for nearly 40 years, and his mother, who worked in the town as a school teacher and principal.
As a teenager, Stewart helped take care of the 168-head herd of cattle on his own farm while harvesting hay on area farms for extra money.
"It was very hard to imagine me at that time ever wearing a suit and bow tie working at a bank," Stewart quips.
But Stewart now regularly sports such apparel in his new role as market president in Chattanooga for Truist Bank. From his 12th story office in the downtown Truist building (formerly the American Bank & Trust building), Stewart oversees the commercial banking operations for Truist in Chattanooga. He works with the retail and branch operations for Truist, which operates 17 branches, or what the bank calls financial services center, in the Chattanooga area.
Truist is the second biggest bank in the Chattanooga market with nearly $2.4 billion in in deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But Stewart says he would love for Truist to regain its top position in the local banking market.
Stewart came to Truist in April after working more than three decades at other banks, including Bank of America, Synovus, Cornerstone and First Horizon Bank in Chattanooga.
Despite his long and successful banking career, Stewart didn't even think about being a banker when he was going to college. Stewart initially was an English literature student at the University of Alabama until his father questioned the value of such study and urged his son to pursue a more lucrative career in business.
Stewart quickly saw the universal need and appeal of banking. With no burning desire for any particular business, banking appealed to Stewart's varied interest and when he got recruited to work at SouthEast Bank in Miami, Florida. After five years, Stewart joined SunTrust Bank (which later merged with BB&T to became Truist) in West Palm Beach, Florida working on commercial lending.
In 1996, First Tennessee Bank (now First Horizon Bank) recruited Stewart to move to East Tennessee which was closer to his family roots. Stewart has stayed in Chattanooga since, also working for Cornerstone, Synovus and for the past six years prior to this spring, with Bank of America, handling commercial lending.
"At Bank of America, I spent an awful lot of time competing for businesses with a lot of other banks in this market but more than any with Truist," Stewart says. "We just couldn't unseat Truist, and when this opportunity came up after J.V Vaughn retired from Truist ... I was tired of fighting Turist, and thought maybe it was time to join them."
Truist still has plenty of competition in Chattanooga with 29 commercial banks and 15 credit unions operating in the metropolitan area. But Stewart says Chattanooga is a growing market.
"Businesses want to locate here and we're seeing more people moving to Chattanooga with more remote work," Stewart says.
Despite a post-pandemic drop in local deposits following three years of double-digit growth, total bank deposits in the Chattanooga market are up by nearly 50% since their pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
"It is a competitive landscape and we all compete for deposits and loans," Stewart says. "Our customers are someone else's prospects and our prospects are someone else's customers."
Stewart says Truist's community banking model seeks to provide both a local focus and decision making, along with the resources and technology of a major regional bank. In Chattanooga, Trust is behind only First Horizon, with its parent company being the largest in the United States, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp..
Locally, Truist continues the legacy of one of Chattanooga's oldest banks begun in 1900 when Harry S. Probasco started the Bank of Chattanooga in 1900. The bank became the American National Bank in 1905, and in recent years has evolved through mergers and acquisitions to become Third National Bank to SunTrust Bank and now Truist.
Johnny Moore, Tennessee regional president for Truist, says the company operates under a community banking model, with decision making close to the communities it serves. Market presidents lead a local team to provide a diverse mix of services, including business banking, commercial banking, middle market banking, not-for-profit/ government banking and regional commercial real estate clients.
"We couldn't be more pleased to welcome Mark to the Truist team," Moore said in an announcement of Stewart's appointment this spring. "He brings invaluable banking experience to the Chattanooga market with over three decades in the industry, and we can't wait to see what he accomplishes through his work with Truist clients within the community."
Mark Stewart at a glance
* Age: 61
* Title: Chattanooga market president at Truist Bank
* Education: Business degree from the University of Alabama and also is a certified treasury professional.
* Career: He has worked for nearly four decades in commercial banking at Southeast Bank and SunTrust Bank in south Florida and since 1996 at First Horizon, Cornerstone, Synovus, Bank of America and now Truist Bank in Chattanooga.
* Civic involvement: Stewart is active in the Chattanooga Area United Way, the Executive Circle of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, International Business Council for the chamber and the Chattanooga Rotary Club, other civic organizations.
* Personal: A native of Ashville, Alabama, Stewart and his wife have two sons and live on Signal Mountain