Stand on principle, leader says

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Date: January 2, 2006
Section: Business
Page: B3
Source: Dave Darnell
Edition: Final

Doug Collins

Title: Founder and chief executive of Prudential Collins-Maury Inc. REALTORS and founder and chief executive of Sovereign Homes LLC.

Doug Collins likes a bank that uses more than a lack of assets to evaluate a person. He’s involved in the startup of a community bank.

Resume

Company: Prudential Collins-Maury Inc. REALTORS & Sovereign Homes LLC
Date of birth: Dec. 31, 1954
Hometown: Nankipoo, Tenn.
Education: BBA, University of Memphis, 1978
Personal: Single, no children

The details

First job: I was 14 when I got my first job changing oil and pumping gas back when they were actually service stations. My first job after college was a sales rep for McLean Trucking Co.

Most recent job: I actually have three. Founder and chief executive of Prudential Collins-Maury Inc. REALTORS; founder and chief executive of Sovereign Homes LLC, a home-building company; and my latest venture is starting a community bank, Triumph Bank, with 14 other local businessmen, which we hope to open in February. Having started several small businesses myself, I know firsthand the importance of community banks that can look past the lack of assets and evaluate the individual.

Career highlights: President of The Memphis Area Association of REALTORS in 1999, president of The Tennessee Association of REALTORS in 2003, and Tennessee REALTOR of the year in 2005. I am currently serving as second VP of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association, on the University of Memphis Tiger Scholarship Foundation, and on Southwest Tennessee Community College Foundation Board of Trustees.

Most satisfying career moment: Every year for 23 years my companies have helped people achieve the “American Dream of Home Ownership.” Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Career advice: Theodore Roosevelt’s speech which begins, “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. …The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” While this excerpt doesn’t do it justice, I would advise everyone—especially the young—to read it and take it to heart. Don’t hear the critic, and go do it.

Person I most admire: My dad. A man’s man. A principle-centered man. He’s gone now, but the lessons he taught will always be with me.

Hobbies: Attending University of Memphis football and basketball games. I also love to fish, especially fly fishing. The beautiful landscapes, the cold clear water, and the rhythmic nature of the cast allows me to feel at peace in the hectic world.

Last book read: “YOU The Owner’s Manual…”

Favorite film: “12 Angry Men” (the 1957 version) and “Crimson Tide.” Henry Fonda as Mr. Davis and Denzel Washington as Commander Hunter both portray men of great character. Both movies have a central theme of “things are not always as they seem” and both men stand up to great adversity to do what they believe is right.

Favorite vacation spot: The Caribbean

Change I would like to see: Less politicians and more statesmen.

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