The conference room at First Horizon Bank’s main office on Keith Street in Cleveland, Tennessee is lined with portraits of former bank leaders, gray-haired men dressed in starched shirts, dark suits and neckties.
When the bank’s 31-year-old market president, Logan Young, takes a seat at the conference table dressed in a stylish sport coat with an open-collar shirt, the generational contrast is obvious.
Young, who was named senior vice president and Cleveland market president of First Horizon in 2023, is clearly a rising star in First Horizon’s firmament. His meteoric rise in community banking is all the more remarkable considering that while in college, he never envisioned a career in the financial sector.
Young, who graduated from Tennessee Wesleyan College (now University) in Athens, Tennessee with a degree in marketing, credits a chance conversation with a banker at a University of Tennessee football game with his entree into community banking. Young had already accepted an after-college job offer with a pool chemical company in Alpharetta, Georgia when he had a change of heart.
“I more or less stumbled into banking,” he said in an interview.
Young said a mentor had once told him to work for an individual or company that he admired and respected.
“Not long afterwards, I ran into a banker that fit that mold at a UT game,” Young said. “I met with him afterwards to discuss working in banking and had remembered the advice that I was given and decided at that time to pursue a career with him in banking.”
Young, who had lost his father to a car accident when he was 17 years old, found comfort and wisdom in seeking out a series of mentors who could help him navigate several banking positions, first in Etowah, then Athens and later Cleveland, Tennessee.
“They helped my career tremendously,” he said of the mentors. “I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by great people.”
“… When I graduated (college) and got in the work force, I stuck to people that I looked up to … figuring out how they advanced in their career, how they made their mark, how they interacted with employees and clients.”
The mentorship model became the foundation of his emerging career, along with a commitment to smaller towns and cities where he could give back to the community. Young went to Polk County High School in Benton, Tennessee, and says his small town sensibilities are still strong. His mom was a bank teller and his father was a welder at TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear plant. Young played basketball at Polk County High School.
“I grew up in Polk County and wanted to stay in this area,” he said. “That was part of the decision-making (after college) as well. I got to stay close to family.”
After high school, Young heeded his mother’s advice to go to Tennessee Wesleyan College so he could live at home and graduate debt free. Throughout college he worked for the pool company, some days waking at 6 p.m. to drive to they company’s Georgia offices. The work ethic he honed in college prepared him for life after college.
“At the time, I thought I was missing out (on college activities),” he says. “This (pool company position he had in college) was essentially a full-time job. I realize now that it set me up. I was ready to step into a job when I left college. I was introduced to executive-level folks, and learned how they carried themselves, as well. I learned hard work.”
Young says he was taught by his mentors that it’s not enough to set personal and group goals. Good leaders also help their employees translate big goals down into small steps.
“If I’m given a goal, (I was taught) how to break things down into daily actions. … How many touch points, or calls, do I have to make?
“It can be intimidating to present a goal to someone. I tell them, ‘I’m going to give you this goal, but I’m going to show you how to get there effectively and efficiently.'”
Young says his goals for First Horizon Bank in Cleveland include expanding market share, increasing deposits, growing the bank’s loan portfolio and expanding its client base.
“At First Horizon, we are a bigger (regional) bank … approaching $90 billion in assets,” he said. “We can support the larger commercial clients. We are also nimble. We can support small businesses. We can finance a car loan. We can finance a mortgage for a first time home-buyer.”
Young, who is active in community service on the boards of Junior Achievement of the Ocoee Region, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the local YMCA, also helps allocate funds from the Horizon Bank Foundation which go to help nonprofits such as the United Way, Junior Achievement and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
In his spare time, Young says he enjoys boating on the Hiwassee River with his wife, Haley, and two-year-old daughter, Lakely.
As for his success at such a young age, Young says, “I was raised well. My family had a wonderful impact on me. My mom and dad were very high-character people.”
Logan Young
* Age: 31
* Position: Senior Vice President and Market President First Horizon Bank, Cleveland, Tennessee
* Family: Wife, Haley; 2-year-old daughter, Lakely
* Hometown: Benton, Tennessee
* Education: Tennessee Wesleyan College
* Hobbies: boating, golf