Not many CEOs and different high-level executives stick round on the identical firm for a number of a long time.
Robert R. Hill Jr. was in a position to pull it off for greater than 20 years. Till now.
With little fanfare, the architect behind one of many largest and most acquisitive banks to come back out of South Carolina quietly stepped away as govt chairman of SouthState’s dad or mum along with the April 26 assembly of shareholders, when his place was eradicated.
“Do not learn into that,” Hill stated Thursday, referring to the bluntly worded “contractual legalese” that described his departure when it was disclosed to shareholders in March.
“I left on superb phrases with the corporate,” he added.
Robert E. Hill Jr. just lately stepped down as govt chairman of SouthState Financial institution, the place he oversaw 15 acquisitions in as a few years whereas CEO. Offered/Sonoco Merchandise
The Citadel graduate and Columbia resident had an extended and prolific run on the prime, rising to the nook workplace at SCBT Monetary Corp. in 2003, simply eight years after becoming a member of the tiny Midlands lender.
By 2019, he had helped engineer 15 acquisitions.
However the dealmaker’s subsequent deal proved to be the largest and most transformative of all of them: the $6 billion tie-up with Florida’s CenterState Financial institution in mid-2020. It was at that time that Hill took on the brand new function of govt chairman, whereas John Corbett assumed the CEO duties.
Virtually three years on, and after serving to merge two regional lenders with 5,000 workers in six states whereas additionally managing by the COVID-19 disaster, Hill stated he felt it was time to have a look at the “subsequent leg of the journey,” each for him and the practically $50 billion financial institution.
“I talked to the board about … what’s one of the best factor for the corporate when it comes to board management and what’s proper for me personally,” he stated.
Disaster as catalyst
Hill, 56, recalled when he was simply reducing his tooth within the mid-Nineties at SCBT, the successor to the Melancholy-era-founded First Nationwide Financial institution of Orangeburg and brief for South Carolina Financial institution & Belief.
“After I began … we had possibly 250 individuals and some hundred million {dollars},” he stated.
In lower than a decade, he was the CEO, moved the headquarters to Columbia and was main the financial institution’s growth throughout South Carolina, with a aim of amassing $15 billion in loans and different property.
“Charleston is the one remaining coastal county essential to spherical out our statewide franchise,” he instructed The Put up and Courier in 2006, when SCBT made a number of key hires to open a small workplace on Assembly Avenue.
The worldwide banking trade meltdown a number of years later was an unlikely progress catalyst. The turmoil created a gap for SCBT to develop into what Hill favored to name a “consolidator of alternative” for banks weakened by the downturn and looking for out well-capitalized consumers.
Robert Hill Jr. (left) was named govt chairman of SouthState Financial institution after its 2020 tie-up with CenterState Financial institution. John Corbett (proper) grew to become CEO. Offered/File
“We by no means had a yr the place we misplaced cash in the course of the monetary disaster,” he stated. “I feel that is at all times been our mantra: When others are weak, we will be robust. That’s labored out very, very properly for us.”
It was a extremely worthwhile 2009 government-assisted takeover of a failed financial institution in Georgia that delivered an enormous monetary “shot within the arm,” permitting SCBT to trip out the storm with out sustaining a lot harm.
One other milestone acquisition was the buyout of First Federal of Charleston 10 years in the past. Hill stated the $304 million transaction altered “the corporate’s DNA” and its technique.
“It modified who we had been, how we do enterprise,” he stated. “At this time we’ve got extra workers in Charleston than once we did the First Federal merger. That was clearly the sport changer.”
The deal prompted SCBT to shed its identify in 2014 and unify all operations below the brand new SouthState model “to take us past simply South Carolina and to create a regional participant, which we fortuitously have been in a position to do.”
The mixture with CenterState was introduced in January 2020, weeks earlier than the onset of the pandemic.
“To now be the Thirtieth-largest financial institution within the nation … it is actually form of a dream come true,” stated Hill, who’s fast to credit score the front-line bankers for the expansion. “This has far surpassed any dream or imaginative and prescient I had for the corporate. We surpassed that a very long time in the past.”
Three-way check
He started fascinated with how for much longer he needed to stay round after fellow banker John Pollok, his long-time chief monetary officer, determined about two years in the past “to maneuver on and do different issues.”
“We began in teller faculty collectively in 1988. … That form of bought the wheels turning — is that this the fitting time for me?”
Household issues, like children and grandkids, factored into the equation. And he questioned whether or not he was nonetheless prepared “to offer it 150 p.c.”
“Once we had been constructing the financial institution, my sons may barely stroll, and now they’ve sons of their very own,” Hill stated. “The methods I needed to spend my time … have shifted.”
SouthState, which is now headquartered outdoors Orlando, stated the choice “to remove” his place was “a part of our ongoing effort to reinforce the independence of our board and general governance construction that was initially put in place in reference to the CenterState merger and that was supposed to run out by its phrases in June 2023.”
Corbett, the CEO, stated in an announcement final week that Hill “helped efficiently lead our integration efforts on the board stage” and that he “set an instance of excellent stewardship and excellence at SouthState for 28 years for which we’re grateful.”
As he decompresses after practically twenty years as both a CEO or govt chairman of a publicly traded firm, Hill is aware of this a lot.
“I cannot do this once more,” he stated. “However I can be an lively participant in enterprise.”
Hill’s been a board member at Sonoco Merchandise since 2019 and is the lead impartial director for the Pee Dee-based packaging large. As for any future pursuits, he’ll return to the three-point litmus check he is caught to since beginning his profession as a 21-year-old.
“I at all times needed to work with nice individuals. I needed to be a part of constructing one thing. And I needed to have enjoyable.”
Hill stated his first official post-SouthState gig checks all the packing containers. It additionally takes him again to his outdated faculty stomping grounds in Charleston.
“I needed to spend extra time at The Citadel, and I simply went on the board of its basis,” stated Hill, class of 1988. “I really spent my first two days of retirement at The Citadel, which made me very, very completely happy.”