Jeff Jackson, who grew up in Chattanooga and graduated from Red Bank High School, was working as a kind of in-house banker for IBM at the company’s headquarters in Armonk, New York when terrorists struck the New York City on 9/11.
With a new son, Jackson and his wife Ronna Reneee were eager to leave New York and return to the South so they jumped at the chance to move to Chattanooga when Ronna Renee landed a top IT job with the Unum Group in 2003. Jackson continued his financing role with IBM from his new home in Chattanooga for six years until a friend, former First Tennessee senior vice president Hamp Johnson, convinced him to get out of the house and into more conventional banking at First Tennessee Bank.
Jackson quickly showed his acumen as a top commercial lender, and in March he was named market president for First Tennessee – the biggest bank in Chattanooga with more than $2 billion in local assets.
Jackson is only the fourth president since First Tennessee came to the Chattanooga market 40 years ago and Jackson says he wants to stay in his new role.
“I’m 43 years old so I hope I’ve got at least 20 more years in this role,” he quips. “Chattanooga is home to me and the town just keeps getting better.”