Industry veteran who shaped Raymond James over five decades to retire from board

investmentnews.com:

Thomas A. James is to retire from the board of directors at Raymond James Financial early next year, having made an unrivaled impact on the firm his father created in the 1960s.

It was 1970 when James, fresh out of Harvard Business School, was tasked with running the Florida-based brokerage firm that was to become the industry behemoth that today has almost 9,000 financial advisors and $1.2 trillion AUM.

Over 48 years as a director at the firm and 40 years as its CEO, until 2010, James innovated and inspired. He was named an Investment News Icon in 2017, and spoke to InvestmentNews about his early days in charge, noting that “in the arrogance of youth, you tend to overestimate your power to solve all kinds of problems.”

And problems there were, with the early 70s providing plenty of challenges for the young leader. In the difficult market of 1973-74, James made what he said was the most difficult decision, to approach J.C. Bradford to talk about a potential sale. Fortunately, given what was to come, no deal was done, and Raymond James was destined for growth.

As market conditions improved, and over several decades, James focused on “building a great institution.”

Now, Tom James has announced that he will not stand for reelection and will retire as a director at the end of the annual shareholders meeting scheduled to be held on Feb. 22, 2024.

“At age 81, it is time for me to reduce my time with firm responsibilities and spend more time with my wife, Mary, outside of business. We have an excellent board and management team, and I am proud of their accomplishments,” he said.

But that does not mean the end of his involvement with the firm he led from tough times to titan.

“I will maintain an office and continue in several