Five Questions with Roy Williams: A chat with Harlan Parrish of USAmeribank

When Harlan Parrish in 2011 joined what was then known as Aliant Bank’s office in Meadowbrook on U.S. 280, the Alabama-based bank was small but had big dreams of growth.

A year later, Aliant, which was originally founded in 1900 in Alexander City, began a major expansion when it was acquired as an Alabama subsidiary of Tampa-based USAmeriBank.

Over the last several weeks, all of the Aliant bank names and logos across metro Birmingham and statewide went down as the bank began operating under the name of its parent company, USAmeriBank. Parrish has a new title, Alabama Area Executive, overseeing state operations for USAmeriBank.

In a Five Questions interview, Parrish talked about the name change and how the U.S. 280 office is the statewide headquarters for USAmeriBank.

Tell me about the rebranding to USAmeriBank and what it means to your bank.

Parrish: Since 2011, we’ve been operating as a division of USAmeriBank. We merged with them on Dec. 31, 2011 and became Aliant Bank a division of USAmeriBank. The Aliant Bank name was so well known in Alabama we said let’s not make so many wholesale change.

That move was made to make us a stronger bank. In today’s regulatory environment, not that we want to be real big, but if you are less than $1 billion in assets it’s very difficult because you have to hire so many people in the back room to keep up with so many bank regulations. 

So we joined up with USAmeriBank at the end of 2011 and that was a good thing. We feel like right now is the right time to change our name for several reasons.  We can be best in class in every area since we no longer will have to split resources between two brands. We had two websites, all of the collateral we printed was separate so with this, we can do it all together.

It really makes it more clear not only to the public, but also to our employees that we are one bank. We were always one bank before but had two names. When you’ve got 700 miles between Tampa and here, some thought we’re separate, but we’re not. 

For those unfamiliar, share Aliant Bank’s history. I know it’s tied to Alexander City.

Parrish: We were started in 1900 in Alexander City by three people. Benjamin Russell was one of them. He is known for Russell Athletics, which actually started in the lobby of the bank in 1902. The two businesses stayed in the same building until 1953. One of those individuals was Sally Mae Thomas, and her grandson, John Russell Thomas, is still involved in our bank. It was First National Bank of Alexander City when the bank started but changed its name in the 1980s when they bought First National Bank of Elmore County.     

We introduced the Aliant name in 1989. Aliant is the derivative of two words - alliance and reliant. We kept that name. This building in Meadowbrook was built in 1995, then we moved into Crestline office in Mountain Book. Over the last seven or eight years, we built Alabaster, Gardendale in 2009 and Pell City. So we have five branches in the Birmingham area.

How has the bank grown in assets and branches over the years?

Parrish: USAmeriBank started as one bank in 2007. It is now up to 13 offices and $3.2 billion in assets in just eight years. Their main acquisition was just our Alabama operations, besides one bank they bought. We were $1.7 billion in assets when I joined so have basically doubled in four years since 2011.

Why is being on the 280 corridor so important to USAmeriBank?

Parrish: It’s a growth corridor. There’s a lot of traffic going by here. There’s also a good mix of residential and a growing business community in this area. It’s got the mix of residential component for consumers and the business opportunities are tremendous. It’s been a great location for us. In the last four years, we’ve tripled the size of this branch here in Meadowbrook. 

I am the Alabama area executive over the whole state. Alexander City was the headquarters for the state for over 100 years. We are now headquartered here on 280. We keep a big base there, but this is our headquarters.

 What are the future goals of USAmeriBank?

 Parrish: When someone comes in, we know them. Big banks have so many customers you’re just a number. We have really focused on customer service and will continue to focus on knowing our customers, especially small businesses.