Brandon Box, 34

Brandon Box doesn’t give himself all the credit for being a youthful top regional executive at Iberiabank. The 34-year-old executive vice president and market president for Lee, Sarasota and Manatee counties says much of his rapid rise through the Lafayette, La.-based bank is attributed to timing.

“I happened to get plugged in to the right organization at the right time, so a lot of it is luck,” says Box, who started with the bank as an intern out of Southeastern Louisiana University. “I made the jump to credit underwriter in a year and then had the opportunity to move to Florida when Iberia bought Orion Bank, which was based in Naples. I had the opportunity to move from the defensive side of the bank to the offensive side.” 

Prior to his promotion to market president, Box managed one of the five largest commercial banking portfolios for all of Iberiabank. With his market including Lee and Collier counties, his $200 million portfolio outpaced other commercial bankers in major cities within the bank’s footprint such as Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Tampa and Orlando. This despite being with the bank only seven years in an area where the typical loan value is less than $10 million.

Box served as chairman of the board for the United Way of Collier County, joining the board in 2011, and chaired or co-chaired annual campaigns in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. He also served on the board for Junior Achievement from 2013 to 2015. He currently serves on the University of Florida Real Estate Advisory Board, a statewide real estate professional organization.

Box says success in part comes with a willingness to relocate. “I think that's one way you can move up faster,” says Box. “You have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. Southwest Florida was the right (call) for me, and I was lucky enough to be plugged into a company that went strong into the downturn.”