I caught a bit of this guy's story during President Obama's first address to Congress. Leonard Abess Jr. sold his bank last fall, then quietly handed out $60 million in bonuses from his own pocket to 471 employees and retirees. They each got an average of $127,000 each. That's right - even retired employees got a cut.He never wanted to make a big deal out of his generosity, he wasn't present when the money was handed out. Abess was praised by President Obama. Abess attended his congressional address as Obama's guest.
He grew the bank from $400 million in assets and seven offices to $2.75 billion in assets and 18 offices and received no money from the federal bank bailout.
Abess, who remains the bank's chairman and chief executive, made a video telling the employees a bonus would be coming with the sale and assuring them it wasn't severance. A vice president, Linda Naughton, contacted some retirees and told them they would be getting a letter from Abess and should "sit down before they opened it."
No comments:
Post a Comment