Summary
Tom Ellison never intended to go into banking. When he enrolled at Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1960 his major was civil engineering, and he had plans to work for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Over 40 years later, Ellison is a successful banker and president and chairman of Commercial Bank of Texas in Nacogdoches. Ellison grew up in a working class family in Southeast Texas. No one in his family was in banking, and he was the first member of his family to go to college. Although he enrolled at Texas A&M with the intention of becoming an engineer, he did have a double major of Business Administration and Civil Engineering. However, things changed for him when he met and married his wife, Patty. Ellison dropped out of college to get a job to support his new bride. After a year with the Texas Highway Department, he was at a point that he could enroll in school again. But things had changed at Texas A&M in his absence. Women were allowed to enroll, agricultural and mechanical was dropped from the school name, and membership in the Corps of Cadets had become optional. Most importantly, Ellison's degree plan no longer existed. After looking at his options, he realized that he could graduate with a degree in finance a semester earlier than with engineering. That would be one semester of tuition he could save. In his late 20s he became president of a de novo bank in Tarrant County, the First National Bank of Colleyville, a feat he is proud of since few achieve this goal without ever being first a vice president or being part of the family that owns the bank. Ellison became president of the First National Bank in Grand Prairie in 1976 after it was acquired by First Security National Corp. Both the Colleyville Bank and the Grand Prairie Bank became part of First City Bancorporation when First Security merged with First City. In 1990 Ellison moved to Nacogdoches and joined the Commercial Bank of Texas, N A. The bank started in 1901 and in its 103 years has survived a fire, two armed robberies, the panic of 1908, the great depression and the eighties recession among other things.
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Extract
Tom Ellison - the Banker Who Almost Wasn't
Tom Ellison never intended to go into banking. When he enrolled at Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1960 his major was civil engineering, and he had plans to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Over 40 years later, Ellison is a successful banker and president and chairman of Comme...
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