* Name: John S. Wilson
* Title: Chattanooga branch manager, Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc., a brokerage that is a part of Alabama-based Regions Financial Corp.
* Previous positions: Chief technical strategist/director of equity strategy; he still remains the chief technical strategist.
* Why he's taken on this new role: "I see a chance to build a classic Morgan Keegan branch in a town I love," Mr. Wilson said. But it's sort of a homecoming for Mr. Wilson who started his career in Nashville but says he always hoped to return to his hometown. He most recently was in Memphis.
* Primary responsibility: Mr. Wilson said he is like a small business owner with a few guiding principles: Do what's right for the client, make money and give employees resources to be successful while operating the branch with the utmost integrity.
* How he got involved in investments: After a stock-picking contest in eighth grade, Mr. Wilson was impressed with a friend's stock that rose 80 percent. "I remember thinking then, what a great business to be in and I knew then I would have a career in investments," he said.
* Vision for the Chattanooga branch: "I'd like to look up in five years and have it clearly recognized as the place where people who live in this town and are in this business want to work," he said. In an effort to reach that goal, Mr. Wilson said he plans on bringing in young people as trainees and proven producers who have been successful at other firms.
* View of the current market: "This isn't the first time this has ever happened. It becomes clear that if you look at history, you come out the other side and the pendulum begins to swing back."
* Personal points: Has a collection of investment-related cufflinks and ties, writes a daily analysis, "Reveille," found at wwww.morgankeegan.com, often goes fishing and hunting with his two sons, is a lacrosse fan and is an avid reader who enjoys biographies and mystery novels.
-- Compiled by staff writer Tamara Best, tbest@timesfreepress.com