Cover Story
Eyes on
the Prize
Jim Hyler steps in to
lead NCCBI
at a time when both the state and the
association need his financial acumen
By Lawrence Bivens
Exploring
the world of Jim Hyler requires shedding the traditional stuffy
images of a banking executive. The casual, but professional, corridors
of Raleigh’s First Citizens Bank headquarters are anything but a
haven of dark pinstripes. Offices are attractive and functional, not
grand or intimidating. Far from the downtown high-rises, the
company’s administrative operations are directed from the leafy,
laid-back Highwoods area in North Raleigh.
It all fits nicely with the image of Hyler himself: calm,
unpretentious, forward thinking.
Those qualities and others are sure to be on display in the coming
year as Hyler, vice chairman and chief operating officer of First
Citizen BancShares Inc., takes on a new mission as NCCBI’s chair.
“Jim takes over at a critical time for North Carolina,” says
Gordon Myers, Hyler’s predecessor at NCCBI, referring to the
state’s weakened economy and current budget woes. “But I think his
financial acumen, experience in banking and active involvement in the
community are just what we need, and I wish him well.”
The coming year is certain to be an eventful one for Hyler and NCCBI.
The business community’s leadership will be central to ushering
North Carolina out of recession and fiscal turmoil. Gov. Mike Easley
recognized the key role NCCBI will play in economic recovery by
appointing Hyler as chairman of the new state Commission to Promote
Government Efficiency, the blue-ribbon panel that will examine all
aspects of state government and recommend ways to make state tax
dollars go further.
Hyler said those economic challenges will largely comprise his goals
for NCCBI during his year at the helm of the association. His hope and
intention is to promote business interests and be a strong advocate
for economic growth in the General Assembly. “Times have changed,
our state’s economic base has changed. We need to understand these
changes and their effects on our state from a government and business
perspective. Due to the budget shortfall, the upcoming session of the
General Assembly will be contentious. NCCBI must be there to protect
and promote business interests.”
Hyler also anticipates the added challenge of monitoring state and
federal post-Enron regulations. “We’re in a different environment
than we were in even a year ago,” says Hyler. “The fallout from
Enron could be significant to business, and NCCBI will need to focus
on its role as a advocate for business interests both in Raleigh and
Washington, D.C.”
He suspects there will be new regulations for 401(k) plans and new
disclosure requirements for financial statements. Accounting firms
will face added scrutiny. But he fears the current climate will prompt
some politicians to begin delving into business issues that are
unrelated to the collapse of the Houston energy firm. “There’s
been quite a rush to judgement,” says Hyler, who believes the
criminal and civil courts should be allowed to sort out the
allegations of impropriety before new burdens on business are
designed. “There should be some tweaking of the system, but we
don’t need a massive increase in new regulation.”
Hyler emphasized he wants to hear from members about their views of
how the association is doing.
Life began for James B.
Hyler Jr., on Dec. 13, 1947, in Danville, Va. The only son of a
tobacco farmer, Hyler learned the value of hard work growing up on the
family’s Pittsylvania County farm. At that time, farming the crop
involved two primary tools: mules and human hands, he recalls.
“Tobacco was people’s livelihoods then.” While he decided
against following in his father’s footsteps, Hyler cherishes the
memory of his rural roots. “Growing up on the farm was an incredible
experience.”
But a larger world clearly beckoned, and Hyler arrived at Virginia
Tech in 1966. The first in his family to go to college, he thought he
might pursue studies in engineering. “I soon figured out I wasn’t
inclined to be an engineer,” he says, enrolling instead in the
college of business, where he studied accounting and witnessed a
changing environment on campus as controversy over the Vietnam War
erupted. “People think of Virginia Tech as being a quiet land-grant
university in the hills, but it became very active.” Tension on
campus boiled over during his senior year, when students seized a
university building in response to the tragedy at Kent State. “I was
studying for the CPA exam by that point and had just joined the
National Guard.” The experience left an impact on Hyler, who began
thinking seriously about matters such as leadership and community
service.
Accounting degree in hand, Hyler left Virginia Tech for Winston-Salem
in 1970, having been recruited by the public accounting firm of Ernst
& Ernst as a bank auditor. The company would later become part of
Ernst & Young, the global professional services giant. He went on
to spend a decade with the company in Winston-Salem, focusing much of
his attention on performing audits of Wachovia Bank. “Technology was
in its true infancy then,” he recalls.
Other differences separate the banking world of three decades ago from
the one Hyler leads today. “In the early 1970s, banking was heavily
regulated in terms of price and products,” he says. “The
government determined how and where you could do business.” That
would slowly change, beginning with the Reagan-era regulatory reforms
that allowed markets to set terms for some loans and on all deposits.
The deregulation drive later culminated in the removal of geographical
and functional barriers across the financial services industry. “It
led to the truly national franchises of today,” Hyler explains,
“and it opened up new business opportunities that banks can now
pursue.”
Hyler made the leap from
Ernst & Young to First Citizens in 1980 as the bank’s chief
financial officer. He became president in 1988, and was elevated to
his current position in 1993. In his tenure, Hyler has helped the bank
multiply its assets from $1.2 billion to the nearly $12 billion it
boasts today.
Founded in 1898, First Citizens operates 348 branches across North
Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. In April 1997, the company
established Atlantic States Bank as a wholly-owned subsidiary based in
suburban Atlanta. Atlantic States has 44 branch offices in Georgia and
Florida. Other First Citizens units include insurance, credit cards
and investor services. In all areas, the closely held company
maintains a commitment to serving individual customers and small to
medium-sized businesses.
“We’ve enjoyed a lot of success under Jim’s leadership,” says
First Citizens President Frank Holding Jr. “He’s highly organized,
energetic and direct — and that’s been contagious. The company’s
benefited greatly from those qualities.”
First Citizens is also serious about its larger role in the community,
another corporate value that Hyler embodies. His own public service
activities run the gamut from arts councils to youth groups, and they
include terms on the boards of state, local and regional
organizations. “My particular interests have been healthcare,
economic development and sports,” Hyler says.
He currently chairs the board of trustees of Rex Healthcare and is
vice chairman of the UNC Health Care System’s board. “The
involvement of business leaders in the governance of healthcare
institutions is very important,” he says.
In 1999, he completed an eight-year run on the Raleigh-Durham Airport
Authority. It included a term as chairman in 1994-95, a key period as
the airport struggled to maintain its prominence after the dismantling
of the American Airlines hub. “American Airline’s pullout was
traumatic at the time, but it gave the airport an opportunity to
recruit other carriers to fill the void and introduce more
competition,” says Hyler, who believes high-quality passenger air
service is a requisite to building a strong business environment.
Hyler had also been active in helping the airport score a direct
flight to London, which helped connect the state — and its banking
interests — with Europe’s most important financial center.
Non-stop service to London also cemented the Research Triangle’s
international standing, he believes.
“Jim is one of those people who is an ideal board member —
intelligent and intuitive,” says John Brantley, director of the
Raleigh-Durham Airport. “He was a voice of calm during the storm”
during the difficult period when the airport was dealing with
American’s departure. Amid fear that RDU would be relegated to
second-rate status, Hyler reasoned that the Triangle’s appeal would
not be diminished by one airline’s business decision. “He said,
‘If we keep focused, we can survive this and do even better,’ ”
Brantley recalls. “He was clearly proven right.”
Brantley admires
Hyler’s capacity to survey a situation, quickly assess what is
needed, gather resources and formulate a solution. “He has the
ability to grasp things quickly,” Brantley says. But that leadership
doesn’t mean shutting down those who don’t agree. “Even in a
divided forum, Jim can keep things in order and keep the process
moving forward without slamming the door on other people’s
viewpoints.”
Whatever the challenge, Hyler’s management style is regarded as one
that encourages excellence. “He allows a lot of autonomy,”
explains Frank Holding, “but he has high standards. He’s not
afraid to get engaged, when needed.” It is a supportive philosophy
that allows those around him to rise to their potential. “Jim has a
real thirst for knowledge and growth, and he loves to see that in
others,” Holding says.
Charles Hayes agrees. It was during Hyler’s chairmanship of the
Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP) during the mid-1990s
that Hayes was brought on to lead the fledgling organization, which
coordinates global marketing across a 13-county area. “Jim was the
ideal chairman for us at that time,” Hayes says. “We were
basically a start-up company then.”
Hayes sums up Hyler’s executive approach as one that identifies
quality people, issues a clear charge and then unleashes them to get
the job done. “His philosophy can be summed up in three words:
‘Just do it,’ ” Hayes says.
Regional approaches to economic development and problem solving are
another area where Hyler’s leadership has made a difference.
“It’s vitally important that we market as a region,” Hyler says.
The solution is analogous to a shopping center: Just as small
retailers bind together to become more noticeable to customers,
communities must be seen as part of a larger, unified business
destination in order to compete for new industry. “I take the view
that what’s good for Durham is good for Raleigh, and what’s good
for Warren County, for example, is also good for Chatham County,”
explains Hyler.
More recently, Hyler’s devotion to economic development has
manifested itself as a board member of the North Carolina Rural
Center. The center plays an important role in bringing diverse voices
to the table when it comes to spreading prosperity to less wealthy
communities. He is encouraged by the center’s leadership in
extending high-speed Internet capacity to rural users, a move he
believes is key to attracting new jobs. “Infrastructure needs are
quite different today than they were 20 years ago,” Hyler says.
“If you don’t provide Internet access to every community, you
leave people behind.”
Hyler’s term as NCCBI chair will coincide with his leadership of
another important state body. Earlier this year, Gov. Mike Easley
tapped Hyler to chair his Commission to Promote Government Efficiency,
which has begun examining solutions for improving the delivery of
government services. The panel is charged with issuing a preliminary
set of recommendations in time for this summer’s General Assembly
session, along with a more extensive list by the end of 2002.
“Everything’s on the table,” Hyler explains. “We can’t
address everything in nine months, but we can get to some low-hanging
fruit.”
There are, of course, other roles for Hyler well beyond the bank or
boardroom. They center primarily around his wife Natalie, who performs
and teaches music. And though his father is deceased, Hyler stays in
regular contact with his mother, now 82, back in Danville, and a
younger sister, who resides in Richmond. Also close to him are his two
children: Lori, 28, a human resources manager who lives with her
husband in Wake Forest, and Brad, 23, a commercial real estate
professional in Charlotte.
There is yet another venue for Hyler’s leadership skills: the golf
course. An excellent golfer, he drew the game into his service to the
state through his chairmanship of the President’s Council of the
1999 U.S. Open, a high-level panel that harnessed business involvement
in support of the event. “The U.S. Open was probably the biggest
sporting event for the state, and that was exposure you can’t
buy,” he says. It is a responsibility Hyler has resumed in
preparation for the championship’s return to Pinehurst in 2005.
As to whether there will be room for his true passion during what
looks to be a crowded calendar over the coming year, Hyler smiles
confidently. “Oh, there’s always time for golf.”
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