First Horizon National

When Frank S. Davis started the first national bank in Memphis in 1864, he planted the seed for what would eventually grow into First Horizon National.

Over 150 years later, First Horizon National has became  a family of companies that include First Tennessee Bank, providing products and services for both business and consumer clients to help with lending, deposits, financial planning leads, and more. The bank is the #1 market share leader in Tennessee, with offices throughout the Southeast.

First Horizon National is also the parent company of FTN Financial, which is a capital markets leader in fixed income sales, trading, and strategies. FTN Financial works with over  half the banks  in the country, selling them bonds and helping them manage their investment portfolios, with average trading volumes in excess of $5 billion a day.

Employing more than 4,300 people, First Horizon National has been recognized as one of the country’s best places to work by American Banker and Working Mother magazines, and as a top tech innovator by InformationWeek magazine.

Around 25% of First Horizon National’s employees are Millennials, and 60% are women.

Regarding the latter, First Horizon National uses a variety of programs to support its female executives, including the hiring of professional coaches. According to Lynne Walker, Executive VP of Affinity Banking, the coaches provide employees a consistent “safe place to talk, bounce ideas off of, get different perspectives and feedback, in order to make them better, stronger leaders.”

First Horizon National also takes personal development seriously. Chief Credit Officer Susan Springfield told us, “One of the things that makes our company unique is the fact we do sincerely want people to come to work and know that they can be themselves; we as an organization benefit when we can find what makes them tick. There’s a  joint responsibility…the employee has a responsibility to…not wait to be tapped on the shoulder…to volunteer for projects. (But we have) an obligation to employees to explore what they really enjoy doing and are really good at doing…to work with them to say, ‘What are skills we can tap into that you might not know you have?’ So step up, know yourself, let us work with you and help you develop that great career that’s probably inside of you; and together we’ll grow.”