Better Together
Ameris Teammate Will McNeeley Honors Fallen Soldiers Through Scholarship Fund
No matter how ambitious a goal or initiative can be, when a company has strong leaders, it’s possible. Due to his exemplary leadership, Ameris Bank CEO Palmer Proctor was recently recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs.
The honorees were chosen by the ABC editorial team based on their “strong record of innovation, outstanding financial performance, a commitment to diversity in the workplace and making significant contributions to the metro community.” Innovation is a founding principle of Ameris Bank, and in a recent Q&A with the Chronicle, Palmer details how our company is growing and changing with the future in mind.
“We are growing a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that is supported by our Diversity Taskforce and Employee Resource Groups,” Palmer shares. “We recently launched a robust intranet site giving us the opportunity to better communicate with our teammates through real-time, two-way, and consistent communication channels. This is allowing us to grow without losing the interpersonal connections. We are investing in our people through development opportunities and the advancement of our technology, which allows us to perform and service our customers more easily and efficiently.”
Two years ago, Palmer became CEO of Ameris Bank after serving as CEO for Fidelity bank since 2017. He immediately began overseeing our largest merger to date, rebrand and headquarters move to Atlanta. As the calendar turned to 2020, Palmer was instrumental in advancing our bank’s diversity and inclusion efforts, leadership development programs and releasing our bank’s inaugural corporate social responsibility report.
Under Palmer’s leadership, and during the unprecedented and challenging 2020, our bank produced amazing results, surpassing $1 billion in total revenue and $20 billion in total assets, both firsts for our nearly half-century-old company. That record year catapulted Ameris Bank onto the list of the top 50 largest public companies in the state of Georgia.
Supporting small businesses is at the core of our bank’s work. Palmer underscored that sentiment by helping spearhead the bank’s efforts in providing Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans to more than 14,000 businesses.
We’ve always known we have the best CEO, and we are proud of this public recognition. Learn more about Palmer as he shares insight into his leadership principles and beliefs in the Chronicle’s Q&A, including how the company makes difficult decisions, his favorite leaders and books, the meaning of leadership and more.
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