Executive Session with Scott Merritt

Executive Session with Scott Merritt

Division president of U.S. Trust

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

TIME WITH COMPANY: Joined U.S. Trust, Sarasota, when it opened Jan. 3.

POSITIONS PREVIOUSLY HELD: Smith Barney, 1977 to 1989, broker then supervisor. Set up Merritt and Co., a registered investment adviser. And managed all portfolios for Risk Corp.

FIRST-PAYING JOB: "Loading trucks for a moving and storage company in Jacksonville. Owned by my father."

PERSONAL

HOMETOWN: Born in Tallahassee but grew up in Jacksonville.

AGE: 56

FAMILY: Married with a daughter, 27.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's of science in finance from Florida State, also attended Columbia Theological Seminary but left just before graduating.

WHY THE SEMINARY? "It's a life long passion, and I always wanted to know what the guy up front knew that maybe I didn't know. I was on the Young Life Staff and I did that before I went to college and it's just the foundation of the way I live my life. It's the greatest education known to man and the best training ground for business you could possibly imagine."

HOW? "It teaches you to talk to people. It teaches you to see what they like, what they've done, how they've done it, the sacrifices they've made. Just in my business if you look at just the money you've missed the point. It's what they've done and the choices they've made and so the ability to talk to people about that is not only beneficial, it's the real story."

WHY DIDN'T YOU GET ORDAINED? "Well, frankly I was too young in my opinion, and I wanted to see the world and be exposed to it."

DID YOU SEE THE WORLD? "Yeah, we've experienced what life is supposed to be like. In fact, my wife just graduated from seminary."

WHY FINANCE? "My father opened an account with Merrill Lynch somewhere around 1963 when I was 13 or so years old, and he took me with him and he said, 'Son, we're going to learn how to do this.' So, at age 13, I started researching stocks for him and one thing led to another."

DID YOU COME UP WITH ANY GREAT STOCK TIPS? "If I remember right, the first one did do well, I just can't remember what the name of it was. But I also found some others."

FAVORITE SUMMER TIME ACTIVITY: Golf and reading.

WHEN DID YOU START GOLFING? "When may daugher was a senior in high school. She was an athletic kid. ... Well, half way through her senior year I called a friend of mine here in town who was going through the same sort of thing and I said, 'It's time to start playing golf.' "

READING LIST: "Good to Great," by Jim Collins, "On Becoming a Leader," by Warren Bennis, and "Unspeakable," by Os Guinness. "I don't read many novels except for Walter Smith. I like history, I like theology."

APPARENTLY YOU LOVE HISTORY: "It's the story of man, and the recurring themes of what we do right and what we do wrong. My favorite of is William Manchester, who wrote a book called "The Glory and the Dream." ... It's a marvelous book because as it tells you the story of today it builds the footsteps of tomorrow.

"History is really the study of human nature. It ties into all of this for me. People don't change. We're more sophisticated but the nature of people hasn't ever changed."

THE NEW POSITION

IMMEDIATE CHALLENGES: "Exposing this corridor to U.S. Trust and what they do. Not only who they are, but their capabilities. It's image and visibility. We have the talents right here in place to do everything that needs to be done, but U.S. Trust has not been in this market and we have to let that be known."

WHAT ABOUT THE COMPETITION? "There's always room. If we didn't think there was a niche for us then it wouldn't make sense. Competition's a good thing. I think there's a lot of competition here because it's the right place to have competition. If you go to the places where there's no competition there's probably a reason there is none there."

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH COMPETITION HERE? "The demographics of people who are moving here that need their wealth managed. You see the cranes - they're coming. They've been here, they're coming and every indication is it's only going to get bigger. With that being said I'm not sure there's all the competition here that there will be. It's the destination of choice."

- Adam Hughes