As Blake Wilson sees it, EverBank became a “beloved” name in Jacksonville over the years.
But now that the Jacksonville-based bank has merged with TIAA Bank and taken on the TIAA name, CEO Wilson is hoping local residents will adopt the new name.
If they weren’t familiar with it already, the TIAA Bank Field name has replaced “EverBank” at the top of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium, and now the TIAA name also adorns the bank’s office buildings in and near Downtown.
“It took a while for the community to know EverBank,” Wilson said Monday.
“TIAA has got this incredible 100-year history,” which he hopes will make an impression on the community as Jacksonville residents get to know the bank.
TIAA completed its acquisition of EverBank a year ago and the company announced in February that the bank would keep the TIAA name.
“We did a really thoughtful and unique analysis,” Wilson said.
TIAA’s centurylong history was a significant part of that analysis.
The company was formed as the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association by the Carnegie Foundation in 1918 to provide a retirement system for teachers.
It continues to operate as a not-for-profit company focusing on financial services for people in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields.
TIAA has 5 million individual customers across the country and works with 16,000 institutions such as higher education facilities and hospitals, Wilson said.
The company acquired EverBank, which also serves customers across the country mainly through the internet, to expand its banking services for customers.
“It’s really a unique financial services growth story,” Wilson said.
TIAA is headquartered in New York and its bank subsidiary was headquartered in St. Louis but after agreeing to buy EverBank, it decided to move its bank headquarters to EverBank’s offices in Jacksonville.
Monday marked the official launch of the TIAA brand and the company already put the new name up on the former EverBank headquarters building at 501 Riverside Ave.
The company also was working Monday on putting the TIAA name on the former EverBank Center, the 30-story building at 301 W. Bay St.
Wilson said the recent rainy weather delayed completion of installing the new signs on that building.
Jacksonville already has seen benefits from the merger.
EverBank employed 1,624 people in Jacksonville at the time of the merger agreement in 2016, and that has risen to 1,760 under TIAA.
The bank’s total employment is 3,380, including major operations in St. Louis, Charlotte, North Carolina, and the New York area.
TIAA could grow employment more in Jacksonville, but Wilson is not making predictions.
“It’s difficult to put a number on it right now,” he said.
Besides being a large employer, EverBank was a visible presence in the Jacksonville area, particularly after it bought the naming rights for the football stadium in 2010.
Wilson said residents should be seeing more of TIAA.
“We’re continuing and enhancing all of our community programs,” he said.
