Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301080087
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
NEW BANK, NEW BOSS
The Dominion Bankshares merger is the third acquisition that Benjamin P. Jenkins III has helped guide for First Union Corp. But it may be his last for a while because he plans to settle in Roanoke for a long time.Jenkins, who heads the team planning the merger of Dominion into First Union, will become president of First Union National Bank of Virginia when that task is finished this spring.
The man who associates say works long, hard hours insists that he gives the job no more time than other First Union executives give their jobs.
"It's great fun for me," Jenkins said of banking. "I've always enjoyed it. It's a fun business to be in."
That's because bankers deal directly with customers and can be "of real service, real benefit and real help."
Besides, he said, performance is measurable at a bank. Bankers always know how well they are doing.
But he declined to characterize his performance as a manager. "The best people to ask are people I've worked with," he said.
Howard Edwards, an official in Raleigh, N.C., with NationsBank Corp., First Union's major competitor, knew Jenkins when they both worked in that state. He called Jenkins "a good banker and a fierce competitor" who was deeply involved in the community.
Jenkins comes to Roanoke from First Union National Bank of Georgia where, according to his boss, he was "probably the best corporate banker First Union has. What makes his blood run hot is the opportunity to develop new business."
Harald Hansen, chairman at the Atlanta-based bank, described Jenkins as a delegator who nevertheless knows what he wants accomplished.
Jenkins is a "hands on" executive who delegates but also checks behind, according to Hansen. Subordinates have freedom to do the job their own way, Hansen said, but Jenkins makes sure the goal is reached.
"He's a great cheerleader," Hansen said. People who work with him get credit "and a lot of accolades" for good work.
The same is true of a less-than-stellar performance, Hansen said. "People always know where they stand in his eyes."
He described Jenkins as a man who rises early, schedules a breakfast meeting, holds a conference over dinner and is still at the job until 10:30 or 11 at night.
Jenkins has called him many nights at that hour to discuss issues. Hansen said Jenkins likes to "bounce issues off people."
At the same time, he said, Jenkins has "a sensitivity about him" that made it hard to lay off nearly 1,300 Dominion employees by next fall.
"It hurts all the time," Hansen said. "It hurts inside." Yet Jenkins knows what needs to be done and understands that "fairness is critically important."
In business, Hansen pointed out, managers "all work for the shareholders."
Jenkins said he hopes Dominion employees and the community understand the need to build a strong company that can sustain growth and that is competitive, effective and efficient.
But eliminating redundancy and duplication has "a painful human side," Jenkins acknowledged. "We're sensitive to it" and trying to help those who lose jobs make a transition.
Jenkins is 48 but looks younger. He grew up in what he called the small town of Asheboro, N.C.
He earned a degree in textile engineering at North Carolina State University and a master's in business administration from the University of Alabama.
Jenkins joined First Union in 1971 and spent most of his career in the field of commercial banking and in the state of North Carolina.
He expanded into consumer banking and management in 1977 when he became the bank's city executive in High Point and later in Raleigh, where he rose to area and then regional executive.
Jenkins said he had always served on "the line side of the company," meaning he dealt directly with customers.
When First Union in 1986 purchased its first bank outside one of its existing markets, Jenkins became chairman and president of what became First Union National Bank of South Carolina. He was there to help plan the merger and supervise the bank for about 18 months.
Then he went to First Union of Georgia as president in November 1987, about a year after the corporation's first acquisition in that state.
As a result of these experiences, Jenkins said, First Union is handling merger differently in Virginia than it did in South Carolina or Georgia. Primarily, that means, the organizational structure will vary.
Each merger is "different and unique," Jenkins said, with the structure designed for each new market. Just because it was done one way in the past, he said, doesn't mean First Union will always copy that pattern.
Jenkins accepted the job as president of First Union National Bank of Virginia because "it's a bigger institution than the Georgia bank."
Even more enticing was the prospect of "tremendous growth opportunity," both internally and through acquisitions of other banks in the state. Virginia, he said, is a great market.
He also sees a great challenge in merging with Dominion and in acquiring other banks.
That future expansion is why Jenkins believes it's "most likely I'll be here for a very long time. We made the decision with that in mind."
He said Warner Dalhouse, Dominion's chairman who is to become board chairman of the Virginia bank, will be involved with external matters, including acquisitions and interactions with the market. That's because Dalhouse knows Virginia banking, he said.
Jenkins plans to concentrate on day-to-day operations of the bank such as the line side, products and staff support. His goals are to improve the quality of service, growth and profitability, key measures of a bank's performance.
He has been in Roanoke most of the time since the acquisition deal was announced Sept. 21, heading the teams planning merger of Dominion's operations and management into First Union's.
Since Dominion's stockholders approved the plan last month, he has also traveled extensively to other communities in Dominion's existing system in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
His wife, Marianne, moved to Roanoke last Wednesday, but their furniture won't arrive until later in the month.
They will live in a condominium near the Ronald McDonald House on South Jefferson Street while they build a home on Cornwallis Avenue S.E.
Both locations are within quick commuting distance of downtown Roanoke. And, he said, South Roanoke, like the rest of the city, is "gorgeous."
Their three children probably will be here only on holidays and during the summer.
Melissa Jenkins, who graduated from North Carolina State University last year, works for a textile firm in Greensboro. Catherine Jenkins, her father said, is a junior at Clemson University majoring in education. A son, Benjie Jenkins, is a senior at Stanford University in California where he is majoring in economics and "trying to find out what he wants to do" for a career.
Jenkins said he is a weekend golfer with an 18 to 19 handicap. He described that as mediocre, but local sports authorities termed that decent or respectable.
He jogs "an awful lot," usually five or six days a week. "I'm pretty faithful about that," Jenkins said, but "I'm painfully slow." He's already joined the Roanoke Athletic Club.
In the many other cities where he's lived, Jenkins has worked as a volunteer in three main areas. Foremost among his interests is education. "Public education is a particular interest I have," he said, and he's been a board member of the Georgia Alliance for Public Education.
He's also "a big believer" in the United Way.
And Jenkins enjoys the arts. When he was in Georgia, he served as a director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre.
He doesn't know yet how those interests will work out in his new home, but when the merger is final he plans to involve himself deeply in the community.
"I don't know as much as I will know about Roanoke," Jenkins said.
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