Allen Benners Morgan Jr. is an American

business man A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

who was among the founders and served as chairman and CEO of regional brokerage firm

Morgan Keegan & Company Raymond James , Morgan Keegan is the name of the former Morgan Keegan & Co. business units acquired by Raymond James Financial on April 2, 2012. The combined firms’ subsidiaries engage primarily in investment and financial planning, investment ...

, based in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The firm is now owned by

Raymond James Financial Raymond James Financial, Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company providing financial services to individuals, corporations, and municipalities through its subsidiary companies that engage prim ...

Early life

Morgan was born in

, the son of Allen Benners Morgan and Elise Wetter Morgan. His father was the chairman and CEO of

First Tennessee Bank First Horizon Bank, formerly First Tennessee Bank, is a financial services company based in Memphis, Tennessee. As the leading subsidiary of First Horizon Corporation, it provides financial services through locations in 12 states across the South ...

, then known as First National Bank. (Elise Wetter Morgan died on October 23, 2011, and a private family burial was held at Elmwood Cemetery for her. Her husband pre-deceased her in 1998.) He had a sister, Elise Stratton Morgan, and brother, Henry Wetter Morgan. He attended high school at

Memphis University School , motto_translation = Truth and Honor , streetaddress = 6191 Park Avenue , city = Memphis , state = Tennessee , zipcode = 38119 , province = , country = United States , coordinates ...

, and graduated in 1960. He graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. Morgan could not work at First National, which had a

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

rule, so in 1965 he began his career in the brokerage business, in the Memphis office of Courts & Co., an

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-based brokerage.

Morgan Keegan

Two years later, at age 27, he left Courts. With some advice from his father, he started a brokerage firm with friend James Keegan. Keegan was an over-the-counter trader at Equitable Securities in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. The pair recruited Robert Gooch, who was with Kohlmeyer & Co., and accountant Joseph C. Weller. The firm, Morgan Keegan, was started in 1969 with five employees and $500,000 in capital. The firm grew, and as it did, Morgan gained respect within the financial services industry. In 2002, Morgan was selected as the chairman of the board of the

Securities Industry Association The Securities Industry Association (SIA) was an association of firms and people who handle securities (in the financial sense) (stocks, bonds and their derivatives). In 2006, it merged with the Bond Market Association to form the Securities ...

. The firm's day-to-day operations was run by Morgan, as chairman and CEO, from 1969 until 2003. In 2003, he named Doug Edwards as the CEO and retained the chairman's title until his retirement on December 31, 2007. During the merger frenzy within regional brokerages of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the firm was sold to Birmingham-based

Regions Financial Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsidia ...

. Due to his concentration in Morgan Keegan stock at that time of the merger, Morgan remains the largest non-institutional shareholder of Regions, according to Bloomberg. As such, Morgan became vice chairman of Regions, although he retired from the board at the end of 2007, and remained the brokerage unit's chairman emeritus until it was sold to Raymond James Financial in 2012.

Controversy

In December 2010, Morgan was charged by the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC) along with eight other directors of mutual funds. The so-called Kelsoe funds,Branston, Joh
Not Too Big To Fail
MemphisFlyer.com, accessed June 1, 2013 which were bond funds that bought assets backed by subprime mortgages, collapsed in 2007 during the

subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...

. The SEC accused that the "directors made little effort to learn how the values were being determined". The firm settled its charges in 2011, but the fund directors would hold out until 2013.

Personal life

Morgan is married to Musette and has three adult children: Kendall Morgan Rhodes, Musette Morgan, and Worth Morgan. Morgan's civic and cultural involvements have included the State of Tennessee Building Finance Committee, Methodist Hospitals, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, Allen Morgan Health Center, Opera Memphis, and Dixon Gallery and Gardens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Allen B. Businesspeople from Memphis, Tennessee University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American chief executives of financial services companies Memphis University School alumni