After 31 years at Home Federal Bank, CEO David Reynolds will retire at the end of the year from the Knoxville-based institution founded more than a century ago to help residents achieve homeownership.
Reynolds, who has worked in banking for 50 years since graduating from Furman University in South Carolina, is stepping away from his role to spend more time with his four children and 11 grandchildren.
Jonathan Mayfield, who already serves as president, will add CEO to his title in 2027.
Home Federal Bank operates 23 branches across East Tennessee, and the company's commitment to service has made it a household name throughout the region. The bank helps plan community events and sponsors organizations including the Boys & Girls Clubs, Knoxville Habitat
for Humanity, United Way and Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries.
Every year, Reynolds and his team decide how to distribute $1.2 million of their bottom line to local organizations. Reynolds' wife always tells him he comes home happier that day, and he agrees. The process is incredibly rewarding, Reynolds told Knox News.
"We are Knoxville," he said. "We live and grew up here. We care about this area."
Since 1995, the company has poured thousands of dollars into the Home Federal Scholarship for University of Tennessee business students. Reynolds said this has given Home Federal the opportunity to keep UT graduates in Knoxville.
"It's easy for college students and grad students to think the grass is greener somewhere else," he said. "And we're like, 'Well, it can be green, but it can be green right here.'"
Home Federal's culture is special not only because of its community impact, Reynolds said, but also because of its size. Roughly 350 employees work in the Knoxville area.
Reynolds said he's especially proud of how employees navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. As an essential business, the bank remained open while staff worked nights and weekends to serve customers.
"It was really rewarding to see our people jump on figuring out ways to deliver banking to our customers," he said. "That was sometimes taking documents to someone's house and putting them on the doorstep, and we picked them up later."
Home Federal is a mutually owned community bank, meaning it doesn't answer to shareholders. Though the bank has fewer resources than larger banks, Reynolds said, it has a unique freedom that allows for a customer-forward approach.
"We don't have the technologies of the big banks, but we do have more will, more motivation to serve, more care for our customers," he said.
Reynolds succeeded longtime leader Dale Keasling as president in 2017 and became CEO the following year. Once he retires as CEO, Reynolds will remain board chairman, keeping "a foot in the place I love so much."
Sophia Tiedge is the growth and transformation reporter for Knox News. Email: sophia.tiedge@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: After 50 years in banking, Home Federal's CEO is ready for what's next | Exclusive
