BY ROBERT MCFARLAND, JR.
Delta Business Journal

"Henry is an outstanding businessman and has been extremely successful in everything that he has done," says Bill Gresham of Indianola speaking of his close friend, Henry Paris. "He has the highest of morals and is very deserving of his success."

The small town of Indianola has produced many successful businessmen. Henry Paris, Chairman of the Board of Planter's Bank & Trust Company, is one of these men. During Paris' business career, not only has he provided great leadership to Planter's Bank, he also built a successful chain of some 20 food stores and a gas company in Atlanta that has a presence in 18 states.

The theme that came up time and again while doing research on Mr. Paris for this article was that he is someone of great honesty, integrity, and is blessed with a superb business mind. But I found that he would never admit this in a million years, for Paris is one humble person.

"Henry has about the best intuition for business that I have ever seen," says another friend, Jack Geary of Jackson who is a managing director of Morgan-Keegan. "He has one of those uncanny knacks for being able to size up a business deal from an objective standpoint and he can make a decision very quickly. Those attributes are very important in being a successful businessman."

Born in Lexington, Paris' father was vice president in charge of Durant operations of the Lewis Grocer Company. Paris spent his early years playing sports at Lexington High School. During the summers, he worked at the Lewis Grocer Company's vinegar plant in Durant. After graduating from high school, Paris attended Ole Miss where he earned a degree in business, and was elected Colonel Rebel, Head Cheerleader, to the Hall of Fame and Omicron Delta Kappa.

"Ole Miss had about 2,000 students back then," says Paris. "I really had no idea whatsoever, as to my future, when I finished Ole Miss. I knew I was going in to the service for two years and that's about all I had planned at that time."

After the Air Force, Paris returned to the Delta and worked for the Lewis Grocer Company for six months with the understanding that the company would send him to work on an M.B.A. at Michigan State University. The school was one of two in the country that offered a food distribution curriculum.

Paris finished Michigan State with honors and returned home to Lewis Grocer's corporate headquarters in Indianola where he worked for the next 24 years.

"At that time, we had only five retail stores," says Paris. "The company would put me in various stores as a trainee and then I developed a personnel department which lead me into management. I worked in a number of areas with the company eventually becoming a vice-president."

While at Lewis Grocer, Paris left for a year and worked for his father and uncle who had purchased a gas fitting business in Atlanta. After his stint in Atlanta, Paris returned to Lewis Grocer, but the gas business in Atlanta grew with Paris still having some involvement. Also after returning to Indianola, Paris and a group of investors purchased the town newspaper.

"During that time, the paper in Indianola wasn't as good as it should have been," says Paris. "It was a weekly paper, however one week it might be published and the next week it might not. So, we put a group of investors together and hired an editor. I approached this as a community project situation. Indianola was worthy of a good hometown newspaper."

After the paper was up and running, Paris and his investors sold to John Emmerich of Greenwood and Jim Abbott. Abbott runs the paper to this day.

Toward the end of Paris' career at Lewis Grocer, he and a friend from Belzoni, Harrel Potter, invested in two food stores which began the chain of food stores that Paris' company, Southeast Foods, Inc., now owns. The company has 20 stores and is based in Monroe, Louisiana. Jim Creel of Greenville is now the CEO of this company. "We are franchisee's of the Lewis Grocer Company operating such retail stores as Super Valu, Sunflower, and County Markets," says Paris.

"I got into this particular business because I had worked in this area for 24 years and I wanted to invest in the retail end."

In 1975, Paris was walking off a tennis court when his friend, Rodgers Brashier of Indianola mentioned that Planters Bank had only two presidents in the past 80 years and were looking for a third. Paris applied for the job.

"When Henry first joined the bank, one of his first priorities was to recruit some top-notch banking people to come to our bank to carry on some of the things that he didn't know a lot about because he was coming from the grocery business," says Rodgers Brashier. "There is no doubt about it, Henry has done an outstanding job with Planter's Bank.'

ÒI got into the banking business because I didn't want to have to move again," says Paris. "By that time we had moved 14 times and although I was doing well at Lewis Grocer I was looking at other opportunities. I accepted the position at the bank with the understanding that I could continue to develop my chain of food stores and other interests."

Paris hired Jim Creel to run the day-to-day operations of his food stores and settled into his new position at Planters Bank. Paris also continued his involvement in his family's gas business in Atlanta and when his uncle died, Paris took control of the company which now operates in 18 states. Paris goes to Atlanta once a month to oversee this business.

"As I became more involved in the bank every year, I gave my outside interests less time and the bank more time,"says Paris.

When Paris arrived at Planters Bank, the bank had five locations with total assets of $39 million, approximately $18 million of which was at the main branch in Indianola. The bank now has $250 million in assets with seven locations.

In two years, Paris plans to step down as the bank's chairman to spend more time with his ten grandchildren and oversee his business ventures.

Paris' other accomplishments are many: Board of Directors of Mississippi Properties in Jackson; past member of the board of directors of the University Club of Jackson; past commissioner of the Mississippi Memorial Stadium; past president of of the Indianola Rotary Club and Indianola Chamber of Commerce; past chairman of the Sunflower County American Cancer Society; past president of the University of Mississippi Foundation; past chairman of the board of Delta Publishing Company; past board member of Indianola Academy where he served approximately 19 years. He was active in the building of the Children's Cancer Clinic in Jackson and in 1993, Paris was chosen as Outstanding Businessman of Mississippi by the Cystic Fibrosis Association as 1993 Captain of Mississippi Award. He presently serves as Chairman of the American Cancer Society Delta Invitational Tennis Tournament benefit he founded 23 years ago which is the state's largest continuous, one-day fund raising event. The list goes on and on.

When asked to comment on the Delta, Paris is thrilled to do so.

"I came from Lexington and my wife came from Kosciusko and it was a change for us coming to this Delta," says Paris. "However, it didn't take long for us to come to love it here. If I could pick one place in the world to live, it would be right here in Indianola. The Delta has been awfully good to me. The greatest people in the world are here and I do think that the Delta has a good future."

To what does Paris attribute his success? He responds, ÒI was just in the right place at the right time. I have been very lucky and have been so fortunate to have great people with me. I really don't consider myself to possess a great business mind.