James H. Blanchard
Jim Blanchard has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Synovus, a multi-billion dollar, multi-financial services company that provides a diverse set of products and services that touch people around the world, since 1971. His tenure has spanned the periods of greatest growth and prosperity in the company's history, which dates back to 1888.
Jim has long been an outspoken advocate of servant leadership, and he has fostered a culture at Synovus that places special emphasis on balancing work with the rest of life. FORTUNE magazine has ranked Synovus among the top of its "100 Best Companies To Work For in America" list since it began publishing the list in 1998, and named the company the "Best Company to Work For" in America in 1999.
Synovus and its family of companies have earned reputations for outstanding customer service, leading-edge technological innovation and generous returns to shareholders. The success of Synovus demonstrates companies can achieve superior financial performance and still "treat folks right."
Jim earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from The University of Georgia in 1963, and earned his law degree from The University of Georgia in 1965. He served two years as 1st Lieutenant and Finance Officer in the U.S. Army, and then returned to Columbus to join a law firm. Soon after, at the age of 29, he was selected as the top executive at Columbus Bank and Trust Company, a position previously held by his father, James W. Blanchard.
Jim rallied support for the passing by the Georgia Legislature of the multi-bank holding company bill in 1976, and under his leadership, CB&T Bancshares, later to be named Synovus Financial Corp., became the first bank holding company in Georgia to acquire banks under the new law. Since that time, Synovus has operated under a decentralized, autonomous management approach for community banking, which has been strongly encouraged by Jim. He also played an instrumental role in establishing TSYS, in 1983, which now provides payment processing for hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide and is more than 80 percent owned by Synovus.
Jim places tremendous emphasis on leadership education at Synovus, which focuses on servant leadership principles. Jim has said, "Servant leadership is a worthy goal unto itself. We run our company this way simply because it's right, because every person who labors here has great worth and deserves to be treated so. Our company is built on these values. They define who we are."
Jim serves as a board member of Columbus Bank and Trust Company and Chairman of the Executive Committee and board member of TSYS. He also serves on several other corporate boards in Georgia, and has been active in state and local government, education, conservation, economic development and the United Way. For his contributions, Jim was the first executive outside the greater Atlanta area chosen as Georgia Trend magazine's "Most Respected CEO" in the state for 1997. Georgia Trend magazine also honored Jim as "Georgian of the Year" for 2003.
