JD Durkin: Billy Carroll, president and CEO at SmartBank, just rang the closing bell down here at the NYSE. Good to see you.
Billy Carroll: Thank you. Great to be here.
JD Durkin: Appreciate you taking a few minutes for us here on the broadcast. Of course, you’re visiting us from your home base in Tennessee. What does the moment mean for the bank, and for you personally, during the closing bell?
Billy Carroll: Yes. What a great experience. You know, to be able to do that, I mean, it’s just a treat and a real honor to stand up there and represent, you know, our 600 associates that we have at the bank, who have worked so hard over our last 20 years. We’re getting ready to celebrate our 20th anniversary here in a few months. And so it’s just a great milestone for us, and I’m just honored to be able to stand up on that podium today.
JD Durkin: Yeah. You helped co-found the bank almost 20 years ago. What does this mean to you, to make it two decades and to have expansion? You and I were talking before we came on. You’ve got Alabama, you’ve got Tennessee, Florida. And you’re in a new state as well?
Billy Carroll: Yeah, we just added Georgia too. So four states now, with, you know, 43 offices. You know, just starting the company 20 years ago, I sure didn’t think we would be standing here today. Obviously, we had big aspirations about doing something fun and building a great company. And it’s really unbelievable to think about all we’ve accomplished in the last 20 years. And we’re still plugging. We’ve still got a lot of great things ahead of us, too.
JD Durkin: You’ve got some fans and supporters walking by here in real time as well. A lot of people want to know about the state of operating a successful regional bank like yours, especially in a higher-for-longer interest rate environment. What do you see as some of the biggest challenges, but also the biggest opportunities, for the space? Your shares are crushing the cover off the ball.
Billy Carroll: Yeah, we have been very fortunate. The market’s been good. A lot of it is just that our team continues to execute really well. Yeah, rates, you know, I think rates being elevated is sometimes not necessarily the best thing for financials. But it really goes back to just continuing to bring in and add great clients and great relationships to our company. And so, you know, for us, our team members do a great job of continuing to grow the bank in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and now Georgia. And, you know, you just keep working hard. That’s what we always say. One of my favorite quotes is a Pat Summitt quote, the great Lady Vols coach: I want to tell you how I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you. And I love that, and we use that mantra a lot at our company.
JD Durkin: Coach Summitt was a legend, of course. How do you maintain a personal touch with customers? I’ve got to imagine, being a specialist in the regional bank space, that’s really important, especially as you look to compete against the bigger, more national branches that maybe don’t get to take advantage of that relationship.
Billy Carroll: Absolutely. And I think, you know, I love the size of our company. We’re in a great sweet spot, because we’re big enough, especially being, you know, an NYSE-traded company, to have the horsepower and the capacity that we can punch up against the big guys. But we can still be flexible enough to flex down and be nimble. And so I love the size of the company that we are today, and that’s, I think, what gives us a little bit of a competitive advantage over the big guys.
JD Durkin: SMBK is the ticker symbol, shares up 33% year to date. Yeah, a nice tape today on Wall Street as well. Billy Carroll, president and CEO of SmartBank. Safe travels back home to Tennessee. I really, really appreciate the time today.
Billy Carroll: Thank you.
JD Durkin: Take good care.
