Leavings of a Lame Duck - ICBA

portfolio management

Leavings of a Lame Duck

Personal reflections on working over 16 years for ICBA Securities

After 16 years and 59
days, I am retiring
from one of the all-
time great jobs, president of

ICBA Securities, working

for dedicated people like

by C.J. Pickering Cam Fine, Gary Teagno

and Ken Guenther. What

made it great was the over-

whelming support and

friendship from my commu-

nity banker board members,

ICBA and state association

staff members, Vining

Sparks and ICBA represen-

tatives and, of course, a few

thousand wonderful com-

munity bankers. (The golf Sterling Service—C.J. Pickering, president and CEO
outings helped a little, too.) of ICBA Securities since the service corporation’s

For my 181st and final founding, has announced his retirement after giving

column, Independent community bankers more than 16 years of extraordi-

Banker’s Nicole Swann and nary portfolio management service and education.

Tim Cook (who have put

up with me and my ramblings for a Board of Co-Conspirators

very long time) have graciously The ICBA Securities board of direc-

agreed to let me write a personal, tors is made up of community

rather than a professional, column. bankers. They first met with me in

Through the years with ICBA Memphis in March 1989. What a

Securities, I have flown upwards of crew. One of their first acts was to au-

750,000 miles, visited every state in thorize the distribution of 30 percent

the union, and conducted 300 sem- of all pretax profits to supporting state

inars and workshops for more than associations. These guys started giv-

15,000 bankers (well, maybe a few ing away profits when we were still

of those bankers came to more than five months from being licensed to

one session). do business!

This nomadic style fit me fine be- They were way ahead of the curve

cause: A) I loved what I was doing, in their thinking, though. The

and B) Sadie, my best friend and payments they authorized for the

wife of 43 years, was either travel- states have now added up to more

ing with me or was understanding than $6 million.

and supportive when I traveled on It was during one of our first board March 2005

my own. meetings that my mentor and good

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portfolio management

March 2005 friend, J.R. Nunn, coined a well (18 handicap), but I always at a time until you do get interest-
phrase that is still used in ICBA enjoy myself. My dad started the ed?” I got interested.
Securities meetings today. Dur- game several years after I started,
ing lively arguments, J.R. would but I never, ever beat him. One On the Floor
finally get frustrated. He would of the last times we went out, he I will miss the excitement of the
pull the dissenting party aside and said he was getting old and three-ring circus atmosphere of
say, “Lemme splain it to ya.” After might die soon. He wanted me the sales floor. The reps are edu-
a little “splainin,” the dissenter to know about his finances and cated, energetic, creative, talented
would usually begin to see things final wishes. and funny. When the Clarence
J.R.’s way. Thomas-Anita Hill controversy
I said, “You old goat, you’re not was in full swing, I walked by the
Educational Events going to die until I beat you one desk of one of our top sales-
Some of the most memorable time at this game of golf.” He women. There was a new sign
experiences occurred in educa- behind her desk that read:
tional sessions. At the first In the Swing—Retiring C.J. Pickering
investment school I taught at Van- gives his successor, Jim Reber, a few tips “Sexual Harassment in This
derbilt, we amused ourselves by on the fundamentals at ICBA Securities. Area Will Not Be Prosecuted. (It
keeping a collection of oxymora will, however, be graded. And the
(oxymora is the highly high-fa- looked at me with a straight face grades will be posted).”
lutin’ grammatically correct and said, “C.J., nobody can live
plural form of oxymoron) on a that long.” Needless to say, no harassment
flipchart. A man just out of col- occurred on her side of the room!
lege suggested one of my Apparently not. At 84 and 86,
favorites—“Free Love.” Pretty Dad and Mom are still here—and Friends—New and Old
good insight for such a young guy. I still have not won a game. I have made many new friends
and rekindled old friendships
On the last day of our first It was misting rain in Puerto Ri- while working for ICBA Securi-
school in 1990, the class gave me co. J.R. Nunn hit a 7-iron on a par ties. And these relationships are
a T-shirt that read “This Shirt Oc- 3. The iron slipped out of J.R.’s what I will miss most. There is
cupied by an Oxymoron.” On the wet hands and flew farther than neither room in this column nor,
back it read, “C.J. Pickering— the ball. It literally went 20 feet in fact, in this magazine to list the
Honest Broker.” That 15-year-old high and came down in a jungle dozens and dozens of bankers
T-shirt hangs in my office today. of trees, vines, underbrush and and ICBA, state association and
varmints. I told J.R. that I wasn’t Vining Sparks staff members who
After giving a short assignment real interested in going in there to have contributed greatly to ICBA
to one of my classes, I noticed a find his 7-iron. Securities’ success. However, it is
Texas CEO looking to see what my intention to let each of you
Deborah, his CFO, was writing. I He said, “Why don’t I just start know personally during the next
said, “Russell, can’t you do that throwing your clubs in there one few months how much you have
yourself?” Russell said, “C.J., any- meant to Sadie and me.
one who knows me knows that I
do my best thinking in Deborah’s My banker buddies can be rep-
head.” resented by some of my best
friends, the members of the mar-
I feel the same way. Most of my riage camp group. In 2000, five
good ideas came from someone couples of us discovered that we
else’s head. Thank goodness for had all been married within a few
being surrounded by bright months of each other in 1960-61.
people. Since then we have celebrated
our common marriage anniver-
Golfing Stories saries by spending a fabulous
Those who know me well know week together after every ICBA
about my golf game. I never play convention.

120 independentbanker www.icba.org

I will send a sleeve of Titlelist As for me, I leave ambivalently. Very such a wonderful industry. ib
ProVIx golf balls to anyone who calls happy to be able to spend more time
me at (800) 422-6442 and identifies all with my far-flung immediate family, but C.J. Pickering is the soon-to-be-retired
five of the marriage camp group by more than a little bit sad about leaving president of ICBA Securities, a broker-
our correct nicknames: Dotto, Omar, my community banking family. dealer in Memphis and a member of
BooBoo, Sweetmilk and Lefty. NASD and SIPC.
Thank you for letting me be a part of
Because ICBA Securities is in
Memphis, Sadie and I have spent
most of the last 22 years around the
folks at Vining Sparks and with our
great friends, Jim and Ann Vining.
Jim and his people have supported
ICBA Securities energetically, cre-
atively, continuously and, most
important, honestly.

Whenever I introduce Jim Vining
at seminars by making cracks about
how old he is, he retaliates by saying,
“I might be old, but C.J. was already
at Oklahoma State when I got
there—and he was still there when I
left.”

Actually, I tried to get Jim to go to
work for me when he got out of
school. Thank goodness he turned
me down flat, or both of us might still
be riding geophysical oil exploration
ships in the North Sea.

A Final Conclusion March 2005

What will I do in retirement? I plan
to spend as much time as I can with
Sadie, my Austin- and Atlanta-based
children and grandchildren, and my
folks in Hot Springs Village. And, ac-
cording to Sadie, that will not be 24/7.
She said that if I can’t find enough to
occupy myself without bothering her
all the time, one of us will go back to
work!

It’s now time to turn over our re-
sponsibilities to a very capable man,
Jim Reber and his lovely wife,
Denise. Jim is certified as a CPA and
a CFA, has a wealth of experience
and will do a great job for ICBA Se-
curities. He will introduce himself
and tell you about his plans in next
month’s Independent Banker Portfolio
Management column.

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