BB&T and SunTrust, Now Truist - Let's Go Podcast

Jon Gordon and Truist's Oscar Santos round out our first round of the Inspired Business interview series with a thought-provoking discussion about positive leadership in difficult times. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Want to know more? The Inspired Business series from Truist is a new video and audio series focused on delivering relevant, solid information to our clients from authors, speakers and industry experts. In response to the business disruptions and changes in 2020, our mission at Truist is to play a big part in the recovery of our clients, especially in the small business and commercial spaces and our communities as a whole. The Inspire Business series is just one way in which we hope to provide thought leadership and guidance for the way forward. The first three episodes of the series is a multi-part dialogue with author and speaker Jon Gordon. In each of the episodes, Jon delves into “Positive Leadership in Uncertain Times,” “Creating Positive Connections and Bringing Your Team Together,” and “Positive Leadership to Rebuild Your Client Base." In this final episode, hear from Jon Gordon and Oscar Santos in a Q&A style session. 

If you have been listening to Let’s Go you’ll know that our recent episodes have been a series on creating a Financial Roadmap for you and your business. This episode was supposed to be about risk. But as I speak, the world is in the midst of dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. The novel coronavirus pandemic has had a tremendous impact on all of us. At BB&T and SunTrust, now Truist, the health and safety of our teammates, clients and the communities we serve is our top priority. We hope that you and your families are remaining safe during these uncertain times.And so talking about risk today, seemed naïve and off-base. I personally don’t have answers right now. But along with Zack Sink who has been my partner on the Financial Roadmap series, we felt it was really important to hear from a business owner and see how they were fairing in these times. And so instead of covering Risk per se, in this episode I speak with Jamie Wade who owns Sand Hill Kitchen a small restaurant in Ashville, NC. For more information about Sand Hill Kitchen, check out their website at www.sandhillkitchen.com.  

While I typically speak to you about topics that affect your business, in this episode I'm addressing an issue that can impact us all as individual account holders.The novel coronavirus pandemic has had a tremendous impact on all of us. At Truist, the health and safety of our teammates, clients and the communities we serve is our top priority. We hope that you and your families are remaining safe during these uncertain times.But unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has also created opportunity for scammers to take advantage of consumers’ financial stress, curiosity, and feelings of uncertainty. Joining on this episode to speak about cyber scams during the pandemic is Benjamin Tuttle, Cyber Security Awareness Program Strategist. Benjamin currently serves as the manager of the Phishing Awareness Program at Truist.

In this episode we explore cash reserves. The # 1 reason why most businesses fail, why cash reserves are so important, and how you can begin growing your cash reserves if you don’t have any.

In episode 2 of our Financial Roadmap Series, we focus the conversation on Maximizing Cash Flow. But where many people think maximizing cash flow is only about speeding up collections or controlling receivables, we take a ‘top of the funnel’ approach and discuss getting more cash through the door by discussing how important a website is to maximizing revenue. Host Christy Sammons, and Financial Roadmap advisor Zack Sink speak to internet web designer Rachel Cunliffe about how to increase business through improvements to your business web pages.  

This podcast episode is the start of a multi-part special series on creating a Financial Roadmap. This is the intro to the series and we’ll plan to continue this conversation over the coming months, including hearing from industry experts as we move forward. Stay tuned as we walk you through how to build that financial roadmap for the future. Let’s Go!

Have you ever wondered what the secret to happiness is? How to create a full and contented life? Or how some people can stay positive, no matter the situation? Hosts Bright Dickson and Brian Ford have spent a lot of time on these questions. In fact, they’ve dedicated their whole careers to finding the answers—and now they’re sharing them with the world. Tune in each month as the financial confidence and happiness experts at Truist give their advice on living life with positivity. You’ll find scientific tips and practical techniques you can put to use right away to find peace in your life—and start planning for the future you want, today.   

Episode 1 - Positive Leadership in Uncertain Times: Tips for Successful Business Ownership during COVID-19In a discussion with Truist’s Chief Digital and Client Experience Officer Donta Wilson, author and speaker Jon Gordon’s shares his insights around positive leadership. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Want to know more? The Inspired Business series from Truist is a new video and audio series focused on delivering relevant, solid information to our clients from authors, speakers and industry experts. In response to the business disruptions and changes in 2020, our mission at Truist is to play a big part in the recovery of our clients, especially in the small business and commercial spaces and our communities as a whole. The Inspire Business series is just one way in which we hope to provide thought leadership and guidance for the way forward. The first three episodes of the series is a multi-part dialogue with author and speaker Jon Gordon. In each of the episodes, Jon delves into “Positive Leadership in Uncertain Times,” “Creating Positive Connections and Bringing Your Team Together,” and “Positive Leadership to Rebuild Your Client Base." 

Conversation with banking president David Weaver on the pending merger of equals between BB&T and SunTrust. 

Are you under attack from fraudsters?

Listen to the conversation with David Stone, cyber expert and director of the bank's Cyber Protection Team.

Join the conversation with the head of BB&T Ventures, the new venture capitalist arm of BB&T, and hear about their focus on innovation and bringing improvements to our clients and communities.

Take a Proactive Approach: AP Automation with Payables and Invoice Management. Rather than leading your team through the grind of your business payments month after month, a more proactive approach – perhaps based in automation – can provide a number of benefits. Listen to this episode to find out the value to you of a new approach.

FinTech Game Changers: FinTech is a mash up of the two words Financial/Technology. And at the heart of it, FinTechs are focused on solving financial problems through the use of Technology. And Fintechs are a growing space of business. According to recent pieces in the NY Times and Forbes magazine, global funding for FINTECH companies jumped from $8 billion in 2017 to $12 billion last year. FinTechs run the gamut from businesses making money transfers cheaper and companies reducing ecommerce fraud to smarter point-of-sale credit card readers that, like iPhones, allow applications to be built on top. My guest today is BC Krishna. BC is the founder and CEO of Mineral Tree, Inc., an accounts payable (AP) automation and commercial payments company serving middle-market businesses. 

Cash Processing and the Disruptors - a conversation with Treasury Consultant Laura Null

As many as a third of investors and advisors have never managed money in a rising rate environment. Many have been contemplating the challenges the Federal Reserve’s long-awaited change in interest rate policy may bring. They have worried about how it would affect their investments and what is the best course of action when dealing with a rise in rates. But now that it has happened and with expectations that the next phase of Fed policy normalization will be rather modest, compared to previous rate-tightening cycles, advisors are recommending that investors come up with a well thought out plan for the future of their portfolios. My guest today is Matt Carson. Matt is BB&T’s Deposit portfolio and rate manager. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), has his MBA with a concentration in Finance, and has spent more than 20 years’ in the Financial Services industry, with the last 10 at BB&T. 

As one of a handful of initial adopting banks, BB&T is excited about the industry’s newest payment type now being made available to our clients – Real Time Payments. Real Time Payments is a big change! RTP is the first major payment type addition since the 1970s and there are potentially huge shifts in how a business approaches their AR and AP business processes. In today’s conversation with Sue McBride, the head of the Treasury Payments and Receipts Product Solutions group, we start to peel back what Real-Time Payments can mean for a business and the implications for how they do business. 

For the past several months, I’ve been meeting with our clients and BB&T executives. One of the ongoing topics has been around Payments Fraud and the threats that commercial clients face. Our conversation today is in the office of the Financial Controller of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and speaking with Michael Warren and Tom Salkeld. Just a little background on these two before we begin… In his current role since 2009, Michael Warren is the Controller at the Archdiocese. Michael lives in the Atlanta area and has had an incredible career ranging from auditor at large consulting firms, banking and healthcare organizations to CFO.  And if you’ve listened to some of our other podcast, you may recognize Tom Salkeld’s voice. Tom is a Product Manager and Vice President in our Treasury Services division with oversight over Fraud Protection Solutions which include Positive Pay, Account Reconciliation, ACH Positive Pay, ACH & Check Block services. Let’s Go and listen now to that conversation. 

EP. 1 Fraud Awareness & Trends impacting commercial clients. Conversation is around Cyber Fraud Management. For the past several months, I’ve had the great privilege to meet and discuss concerns with our clients and BB&T executives. One of those major concerns is the ongoing Cyber Fraud threat that commercial clients face. Our conversation today is with a few of our BB&T experts on the subject, Ben Wallach and Tom Salkeld. Just a little background on these guys before we begin… Recently joining BB&T, Ben is our BB&T Chief Fraud Director and has extensive fraud management experience at many large banks including PNC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Regions Bank. He has led efforts to establish enterprise fraud management programs designed to prevent, detect, mitigate and resolve fraud. We are excited to have his expertise at BB&T. 

Welcome to Let’s Go, a podcast production of BB&T and SunTrust, now Truist. I’m your host Christy Sammons. Let’s Go podcast are designed to help you ask those important business questions about where your business is headed, and how you’ll get there. We’ll give you the industry tips, tools and advice on how to reach your goals. Let’s Go!---------------------The novel coronavirus pandemic has had a tremendous impact on all of us. At Truist, the health and safety of our teammates, clients and the communities we serve is our top priority. We hope that you and your families are remaining safe during these times.Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Lynette Bell, President of the Truist Foundation. The Truist Foundation is the blending of BB&T and SunTrust Banks endowed foundation that would blend the two banks’ charitable missions. The Foundation was fully launched on March 2 but nine days later the World Health Organization declared the fast-spreading novel coronavirus a pandemic. It quickly became clear that the new foundation, with $600 million in assets, would need to shift gears to help the company respond to the health crisis. The Foundation found itself having to pivot quickly on its mission. And in the role as the Foundation president, Lynette is responsible for the philanthropy strategy, deepening strong partnerships with nonprofits and leading corporate foundation donations to strengthen local communities. Prior to the merger Lynette served as enterprise community reinvestment officer for SunTrust, leading the community development program to help underserved communities receive economic support to grow. In her more than 30-year career with SunTrust, she has held positions in operations, regulatory affairs, bank examinations and compliance. Lynette has served as a board member of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership and National Church Residences. Listen now, to hear more.