Linda Thomas is the assistant vice president of CenterCircle Relationships, which handles senior citizen accounts at CenterBank of Jacksonville.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
Customer service, new business generation, customer retention, business development and management of the program are her main duties. She also writes the CenterCircle newsletter for customers aged 50 and over.
WHY TARGET SENIOR CITIZENS?
“Seniors have the most money, they keep the largest deposits.”
PERKS TO GETTING OLDER
As part of the bank’s plan to gain and retain customers, trips to various locales are sponsored throughout the year. The first is set for Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island in December. Four trips are the goal for 2002. “As the bank grows, hopefully we will have an event each month.”
WHAT’S REWARDING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“The main part is interacting with and meeting new people because I feel I’m a big people person. It gives me the opportunity to meet people and establish close relationships.”
WHAT’S THE HARD PART?
Losing customers who die from old age comes with the territory for Thomas. The difficulty stems from the personal connections she forms with her customers.
EDUCATION
The University of Tennessee is where Thomas earned her certification in dental hygiene.
GOLDEN YEARS
After 14 years, Thomas was recruited from the marketing department at American National Bank (now SouthTrust) where she developed and coordinated senior’s package accounts. Throughout her lifetime she has dabbled in other interests, having owned a fish market, built a spec house, worked in White’s Bookstore and punched a clock as a dental hygienist. Thomas moonlights at her home-based business, LBT Personal Assistants, that assists seniors with file organization, maintenance and bill paying.
HOMETOWN
Newberry, S.C.
FAMILY
Husband Steve is the owner of Curry Thomas Hardware on the Southside. They live in Miramar and have two daughters, Dustin and Barron, and one son, Alex. Dustin is expected to produce the Thomas’ second grandchild in late January.
HOBBIES
Fishing, cooking, bird hunting and canning/preserving foods are her passions. She once killed a black bear on a hunt in Canada and now uses it as a rug. Traveling with her grandson Dax, searching for arrowheads or walking the woods of South Carolina picking berries are other pastimes. Thomas also fondly recalls seeing her favorite film, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with her grandmother and reading the novel “Pillars of the Earth.”
CIVIC AFFILIATIONS
Thomas is a member of The Old Fashioned Garden Club and former president of Volunteer Jacksonville.
BRUSHES WITH FAME
While visiting Ireland, Thomas bumped into Hollywood icon Ron Howard, who was sightseeing at a castle, and talked with him for a few minutes. Most memorable though was meeting writer Ernest Hemingway in Spain when she was 15. “I met him at the bar in the hotel where we were staying and talked to him for half an hour. He was a charming man.”
WHOM DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?
“Banker Richard Martin. He’s just one of the finest people I’ve ever met. He has a love for life and puts his family first. He has the ability to deal with people in unusual circumstances.”
— by Monica Chamness