An accomplished and passionate leader for the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and beyond
The name John M. Hairston has become synonymous with success and dedication in the Mississippi—and Southern—business community.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Hancock Whitney Corporation, the $35 billion parent company of Hancock Whitney Bank, since 2006, Hairston has guided the organization with a firm hand, earning the company recommendations as one of America’s strongest, safest financial institutions from BauerFinancial, Inc. —the nation’s leading independent bank rating and analysis firm —for 141 consecutive quarters.
But, beyond his unquestionable business acumen, Hairston has also become known as a true Mississippi visionary.
“John Hairston is a leader’s leader for the Mississippi Gulf Coast and, indeed, the entire State of Mississippi,” said friend and fellow businessman Dave Dennis, President of Specialty Contractors and Associates in Gulfport. “He grew up working his way through the ranks of business and life and has remembered every step of the way. John never forgot the importance of his family, friends, and colleagues who have risen with him on his amazing journey to the top echelon of the financial world.”
With an impressive list of accomplishments and appointments, Hairston is active in business, community, economic development, and educational initiatives throughout Mississippi. In 2004 and 2009, Governor Haley Barbour appointed him Director of the Board of Mississippi Information Technology Services, which he chaired in his second term. He received appointments in 2005 and 2010 to the Mississippi Gaming Commission as one of the three-member body regulating the state’s gaming industry; and in 2012, Governor Phil Bryant appointed him chair of that commission.
Hairston also co-chaired Governor Bryant’s GoCoast 2020 Commission Tourism Committee and continues to serve as co-chair of Governor Tate Reeves’ Tourism Committee for reinvesting the proceeds of BP oil spill funds. He is past chairman and currently a member of the Gulf Coast Business Council Board of Directors.
Hairston is also active in South Louisiana economic activities and a member of the New Orleans Business Council Board of Directors.
He is a past member of the American Bankers Association Board of Directors and Audit Committee, past chair of the Financial Education and Advocacy Committee in Washington, D.C., and past chair of the American Bankers Council. He is currently a member of the Audit/Risk Committee and Executive Committee of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. He currently serves as first vice chair of the Mississippi Economic Council. He also served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University and the American Banker magazine advisory board.
Hairston is a past commissioner of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, appointed by Chief Justice Jim Smith; past commissioner of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Recovery and Revitalization Commission; past co-chair of the Gulf Coast Business Council Premier Destination Initiative, which sponsored legislation to form the first Gulf Coast Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau; past co-chair of the American Bankers Association Dodd-Frank Task Force; and past chair of the Mississippi Bankers Legislative Committee.
In addition, Hairston has served on the board of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, Partners for Stennis Space Center, and numerous Mississippi Gulf Coast charitable and civic organizations and Washington, D.C., based banking organizations. He was chair of the 2012 United Way of South Mississippi campaign and past chair of the American Heart Association Heart Walk.
Dave Dennis went on to say about Hairston: “He was at the helm of Hancock Bank as it merged with Whitney Bank, growing the exceptional footprint of Hancock Bank into a major Southeastern financial powerhouse as Hancock Whitney Bank. John has engaged significantly in impactful and meaningful roles in the community, along with also lifting his chosen financial industry. His leadership while serving on the Mississippi Gaming Commission provided much insight into the impact the gaming industry has had on Mississippi’s economy. He has an incredible ability to intuitively and instinctively understand issues, has the vision to mold the creative plan to address the concerns and the credible leadership to reach the needed positive outcome.
“John and his wife, Ann, have been a truly remarkable family on the Gulf Coast. His leadership has been a gift to Mississippi and will leave an indelible mark on our region for many generations ahead,” said Dennis.
The Gulf Coast business leader started his life in the Mississippi Delta.
“I was born in Greenville, Mississippi,” said Hairston. “Mom’s family was on the Coast, and Dad wanted to live on the Coast due to his avid love of the waters and angling. My siblings were already out of high school when I was a very young boy, so the time was right to relocate. My siblings were raised in the Delta, and I was raised on the Coast. I have a brother, Wayne, who is 16 years older and was somewhat of a second Dad to me growing up, and I have idolized him my entire life. He is semi-retired now and lives in Madison County with his high school sweetheart and wife, Mary Lou, who is also from Greenville.
“My sister, Babs Williams, married a Hollandale, Mississippi native, Tommy Williams, and raised their family in Greenville,” continued Hairston. “They lived there until Tommy passed, at which point Babs settled in Brookhaven, Mississippi, near her grandchildren. My second sister, Cindy, married a Greenville native, Gary Garrett, who was interestingly the managing partner of the Little Rock, Arkansas, Rose Law Firm when Hillary Clinton was a partner there. Cindy still lives in Little Rock after Gary passed a few years ago. My wife, Ann, is also from Hollandale. So, my family and in-laws have a great deal of Delta roots. I was raised on the Coast with a multitude of cousins on my mother’s side. Like many here in this state, I am somewhat a child of Mississippi as much as a child of the Coast. My children are 7th generation Mississippians.”
Asked how he remembered his early life, Hairston is enthusiastic. “My childhood was terrific. My dad, Mitchell, was a WWII Navy veteran and my hero. He was a terrific father, teaching me much about life, honor, due to his own lifelong experiences. Dad was aboard the USS Fletcher when it was badly damaged at the battle of Corregidor. While the ship was in dry dock in San Diego, Dad concluded that his chances of surviving another Pacific deployment weren’t great. Like many young men of that era, he took the few days of shore leave to marry his sweetheart back in the Delta who, of course, was my mother. Iris Cummins Hairston and Dad were married nearly 60 years before he passed. Mom lived on and passed just three years ago at 91. My favorite photo of them is Mom in her Sunday dress on a lawn holding a photo of my dad in his naval uniform while deployed. She was maybe 16, and Dad about 18. They were really a loving and dedicated couple,” said Hairston.
“Dad dropped out of high school to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor, and Mom dropped out to marry Dad. Neither finished high school and worked very hard to make up for a lack of formal education. They were both very bright and instilled in the kids a requirement for a university education. I feel very fortunate to have been their son. I wish I had enjoyed more years with them before time caught up with us all. Some of my fondest memories with Dad were pulling in shrimp nets during our many all-night shrimping ventures. Dad was captain, and I was the crew. Our boat was small and had no fancy gear, so I was the gear pulling up the nets. It was hard work but very special memories,” said Hairston.
From those days came his love for the sea, he said. “My fondest memories with Mom were all in church or the kitchen. She was a deeply faithful woman, and her love for the Lord permeated much of her life. She loved gardening and cooking her own products. She loved sewing and made many prom dresses for young girls of modest means who couldn’t afford a nice dress. She was a very humble person and really loved helping others more than herself. I was really lucky to have been raised by two parents who knew how to work, how to live, and how to love.”
Hairston went on to finish Gulfport High School in 1981. “Trent Lott was a rising star in those days, and I loved to hear him speak in various venues when in high school. I decided politics was my destiny and planned to go to law school. Fate directed me differently when Dad experienced an egregious heart attack two weeks after graduation. I was needed at home to help my folks. I spent a year at Gulf Coast Community College in morning classes and working in the afternoons. A baseball teammate suggested I take chemistry and calculus to see if I enjoyed it as much as pre-law. To my surprise, the more technical classes were fascinating, so much so that I opted to change from pre-law to chemical engineering—not the normal path,” said Hairston.
“When Dad’s health stabilized, I landed at Mississippi State University. I absolutely loved engineering, loved college, but had no financial support due to the situation. I learned from Dad that quitting anything was no option, and there was always a path to finishing if someone worked hard enough. Eventually, I landed a co-op engineering position at Dow Chemical every other semester, and, when in school, worked days teaching freshmen engineering labs while working as a bouncer at night. It was certainly an interesting mix of work. I’ve not met anyone else who simultaneously was a bouncer and a university faculty member. I’m not sure that would be possible today,” said Hairston.
“Spring breaks and Christmas breaks were spent working for my brother on river boats as a deckhand,” he continued. “I worked very hard in those years, but looking back, I didn’t realize then it was anything that special. It was the means to finish school. There were two enormous benefits from all those experiences. One was I finished a degree in engineering, which launched my professional career. The other was I met my lifelong love, Ann, a fellow chemical engineer.
“I vividly remember the first time I saw her,” recalled Hairston. “People talk about love at first sight like it’s an arrow from Cupid. It wasn’t like that for me. The first time I saw her and heard her voice, I knew she was the person God put in my path to be my life partner. I was certain we would end up together, not just an emotional arrow to the heart but as a deep and complete commitment. We were certainly not a normal couple to behold. She was the cute little high school homecoming queen, valedictorian, perfect hair, and delightful personality. I was
the big redneck shrimper whose idea of appropriate attire was limited to jeans, coveralls, no shirt, and boots. For some reason, she agreed to a first date. After 40 years, I still feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
“Ann and I have two adult daughters, both of whom were high school valedictorians, like their mom—and not like their dad. Both are MSU chemical engineers. Taylor went on to pursue medicine, married a fellow physician, Dr. Michael McLarty, and they practice together at Ochsner in Gulfport. Reagan is the real engineer in the family and works with Nuryon in Columbus, Mississippi, after recently moving from Tampa. We are very blessed to have both kids here in Mississippi and in our lives,” said Hairston.
“We lost our third daughter, sweet little Kennedy, when she was only six. She was a lovely child but stricken with a disease called mitochondrial myopathy. When she was diagnosed, it was the hardest punch I’ve received in my life—like a knife to the soul. The pediatric intensivist approached us very directly, and painfully, telling us all the bad things that would happen to Kennedy, our marriage, our kids, our psychology. When I say painful, I really mean it was a heart-wrecking conversation. But, as we grieved, he told us the rest of the story. That despair and sadness truly was a decision to make, and we had two choices: We could sit in a corner feeling sorry for ourselves, or we could get up, get back in the fight, fists up, chins up, chests out. He said the odds for a happy marriage and family were in favor of those who fight. We decided to fight,” said Hairston.
“We took Kennedy home, built a house to accommodate her while we had her, and lived a normal life to the extent possible as the illness took its toll. The physician was Dr. Eric Fajardo, who was himself terminally ill at the time, although we didn’t know it. He decided to fight and used his remaining time to teach others how to do the same. In my mind, he is also a true hero in our lives.”
“John Hairston is a force to be reckoned with,” said Ricky Matthews, the host of the Ricky Matthews Show and SuperTalk Outdoors on the SuperTalk Mississippi Network and the former Publisher of the Sun Herald, the Press Register and the Times Picayune. “He’s a visionary CEO and leader of rare caliber—smart as hell, with a servant’s heart and a mind like a steel trap, rivaling the compartmentalization I once described in Haley Barbour. As COO of Hancock Whitney during Katrina’s aftermath, he orchestrated a breathtaking recovery, distributing $42 million in cash on handwritten IOU’s and relocating operations across four states in three days, ensuring the bank reopened as a lifeline for the Gulf Coast.
“Later, as chair of the Gulf Coast Business Council’s tourism committee, he drove the creation of Coastal Mississippi, our first major regional effort here,” continued Matthews. “Despite heart-wrenching personal challenges, including the loss of a daughter, John’s resilience and commitment to service have left an indelible mark on Hancock Whitney, the Gulf Coast community, Mississippi, and the entire southern region of the U.S. I’m honored to call John a close friend. We are lucky to have him as a leader.”
Interestingly enough, banking was not the career Hairston initially thought he would enter. “I expected to practice engineering when I finished at MSU, but on somewhat of a gamble accepted a position in what was then Arthur Andersen Consulting, now Accenture,” he said. “The allure of learning the business of engineering versus core engineering was appealing. It was my lowest salary offer by far but seemed to be the best role for learning. I was loaned to the banking division in Houston during the Texas oil and gas recession in the late 1980s, primarily to assist with energy related assets in foreclosure. Interaction with clients and bankers was fascinating to me, and I stayed in the banking consulting group.” Whitney Bank in New Orleans and his hometown Hancock Bank in Gulfport became two of his clients.
“When Ann and I became parents, we were in Charlotte, North Carolina, working on the integration of a large number of banks into what is now Bank America. I came home late one night and walked with my daughter in my arms until she was ready for sleep. I realized the travel required for the role—sometimes months at a time away from home—was not the life my father would have expected of me. I resigned the next day and by the following day accepted a position with George Schloegel at Hancock. It was another very fortunate event, as I found another father figure to have in my life when my Dad passed. George taught me the business of managing versus consulting. He was a superb mentor for business and for living. His love of history was aspirational, leading me to believe the one who studies history also knows the future. From George, I learned the value of understanding history, of trying to be part of a company’s soul versus just on the payroll.”
Another man meant a lot to Hairston at that time. “Leo Seal was in the 9th inning of his career when I joined the bank,” he said. “Leo was quite a character; we called him the Old Wolf, the Man on the Mountain. He was pretty much the oracle when it came to understanding economic trends and the impact on our bank. Leo was also a believer in listening to associates at all levels of the company. From Leo, I learned the value of getting into the offices where my team interfaces with clients, to learn the real truth of what we are good at or not good at, and most important, to be accountable to the entire team for my decisions. I work for the board directly, and investors indirectly, but an executive must also be accountable to the team affected by
his/her decisions. Facing them to allow questions and answers is a very comfortable place for feedback. Sometimes it’s critical. And, sometimes the critics are right.” Hairston is philosophical about where he is currently in his storied career. “I will next realize my 32nd anniversary with the company and 18th anniversary as CEO. Every day has been an adventure and a learning experience. It is difficult to point to one experience and say it was the pinnacle, at least for me. I can say that the most vivid memory, and one that I struggle to avoid becoming emotional when sharing, is in the first few weeks after Hurricane Katrina,” said Hairston. “The storm laid low our corporate offices and many of our locations. Hundreds of our people lost their homes, cars, churches, family homes. It was an incredible event. I remember standing a block south of our headquarters, looking up at the destroyed building with several of my team members. This was hours after the tidal surge receded. One of my colleagues asked,
‘Can we recover from this?’ My immediate thought and words were, ‘Recover? This is about to be our finest hour.’”
“I was certain that the dreadful prior 24 hours would result in our team rising from the flooded Coast to grow faster and stronger than we dreamed,” continued Hairston. “The company grew from $3 billion in assets that terrible day to $20 billion in assets in only six years; and, 15 years later, to more than $35 billion. The bottom line to remember is that the best outcomes are impossible without the catalyst of adversity. The question is whether the impacted parties of adversity have the strength to seize the opportunity. The greatest pride of my career will always be the 2,000 colleagues who, in the fall of 2005. banded together to seize opportunity. It was a beautiful thing to see, and I remain honored to have simply been at their side during those days.”
When asked to describe a typical day, Hairston responded, “I try to kiss my wife first thing every morning and play with our miniature schnauzer, Rosie, before suiting up for work. From that moment on, there’s no such thing as typical. I usually get home before 8 p.m.. I’m fortunate that Ann is the daughter of a chef and is a superb operator in the kitchen. She can make a five- star meal in an hour. We have a great dinner and catch up on the happenings of the day.”
As for recreation, Hairston said, “My day job doesn’t provide time for frequent hobbies. That said, my father told me at my parents’ 50th anniversary party that the two secrets to a happy marriage are, first, never argue about the same subject twice, and second, find something you both truly love to do before kids leave the household. The one thing Ann and I truly love to do is angling. Specifically, we love to pursue billfish. If we have a long weekend available, and flights are available, we are traveling to the best fisheries in the hemisphere to catch and release billfish.
“The man I mentioned earlier, Leo, used to anecdotally say, ‘The tragedy of human existence is about the time you get really good at something, it’s time to stop doing it.’ He was right. Through a career, when you master the subject matter, it’s time to move on. But, a person cannot truly move on without successfully grooming a successor. To me, it is difficult but critical to ensure you take the time to share what you’ve learned with those coming behind you. Success is measured by successors outperforming the departing individual. The success of my career will not be measured by what was accomplished during my tenure, but by the success of those who come after me.”