Congratulations John Russell Thomas

Published Friday, October 23, 2009

John Russell Thomas has been a pillar in business community of Alexander City for many years.

As president and CEO of Aliant Bank, he helped the Alexander City bank grow tremendously over the past nearly four decades. He started with $33 million in assets and two electric calculators. Now, the bank has nearly $1 billion in assets and it’s now one of the strongest banks in Alabama.

Last week, he was recognized for that achievement by being inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame at the University of Alabama. He is the fifth Alexander City man to receive this distinction, joining the likes of Benjamin Russell, Ben Russell, Thomas Russell and Eugene Gwaltney.

Early in his career, John Russell Thomas was on a different career path. He went to school to study textile engineering to work for Russell Corp., but that soon changed after he came home from the service when his father, Russell Thomas, passed away.

He was faced with the decision of selling the bank or running it himself. He chose the latter and it’s paid off.

Since he didn’t know much about banking at the time, he signed up for every banking seminar that he could, enrolled in the School of Banking of the South at LSU, went to consumer lending school and collected as much advice as he could.

The thirst for knowledge that John Russell Thomas had is what made Aliant Bank successful today.

Congratulations John Russell Thomas on your induction to the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.

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