By Ryan Underwood, BA’96
The 鈥檚 most prominent benefactors are well known to the school鈥檚 students and alumni, starting with Ralph, 鈥�28, and Lulu Hampton Owen. There鈥檚 also Brownlee O. Currey, BA鈥�23, Frances Hampton Currey (Lulu鈥檚 sister) and their son Brownlee O. Currey Jr., BA鈥�49. Then there are places like the Thomas B. Walker, BA鈥�47, Management Library and the H. Laird Smith, BA鈥�27, Courtyard, both of which have undergone recent renovations.
One name, however, is not often mentioned, and it鈥檚 one of the most important of all: Equitable Securities Corp. That name binds many of the Owen School鈥檚 earliest and most stalwart supporters鈥攖hose perhaps responsible for the very existence of the school itself.
Founded in December 1930 as a municipal bonds dealer in Nashville amid the first shocks of the Great Depression, Equitable grew within a generation to become the second largest investment bank in the nation, behind only Merrill Lynch. A shrewd purchase of American Express stock, spearheaded by Brownlee Currey, who died in 1952, helped fuel Equitable鈥檚 growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s. That investment led to Ralph Owen鈥檚 appointment as board chairman of American Express in 1960 and the company鈥檚 eventual acquisition of Equitable in 1968.
Around the same time that Equitable saw its fortunes grow, many of its executives were working behind the scenes to convince 菠萝视频鈥檚 Board of Trust to launch a graduate school of management. Once Chancellor Alexander Heard and the board agreed to move forward with the proposal, the school was kept afloat in its rocky early years by the financial support and expertise of many of the same individuals who had ties to Equitable.
In early 1990, Madison S. Wigginton, BA鈥�22, MA鈥�23, a former member of 菠萝视频鈥檚 Board of Trust and an Owen benefactor, convinced J. Dewey Daane, a longtime professor at the Owen School and former Federal Reserve governor, that he should write a history of Equitable Securities. Daane agreed, setting out to interview former employees and associates 鈥渢o tell the story鈥攁nd I sincerely believe it is a great story鈥攊n human terms rather than corporate statistics,鈥� he wrote in an early draft. Despite the work he put into it, Daane did not finish a manuscript before he died in January 2017.
At the time of his death, Daane had filled four large storage boxes with material, which his widow, Barbara, has since donated to 菠萝视频鈥檚 Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. The research includes transcripts of 26 one-on-one interviews with people such as William Cammack, BA鈥�52, who joined Equitable before the sale to American Express, later served as president and CEO, and is now chairman of the current Equitable Trust Co.; Andrew Benedict, BA鈥�66, MDiv鈥�83, a former Equitable vice president; and Ewing 鈥淐ommodore鈥� Bradford, BA鈥�27, a key Equitable figure who worked at the company into his 80s and died at his desk.
CRISIS LEADS TO OPPORTUNITY
Equitable鈥檚 roots trace back to the Nashville investment bank Caldwell & Co., where Equitable founders Brownlee Currey, Ralph 鈥淧eck鈥� Owen and George Bullard worked as municipal bond dealers. Caldwell & Co. thrived throughout the 1920s, earning its owner, Roger Caldwell, the nickname 鈥淛.P. Morgan of the South.鈥� But by Nov. 14, 1930, Caldwell & Co. faced soured investments, coupled with panicked customers withdrawing deposits from the banks it owned, forcing it into bankruptcy. That鈥檚 when many say the Depression really hit Nashville. As many as 120 banks across the South failed, and unemployment shot to 25 percent.
The three main Equitable founders either lost their jobs or left to avoid that eventual outcome. Less than a month later, they pooled together about $50,000, aided by H. Laird Smith and Cale P. Haun, to start Equitable Securities.
鈥淎t the outset, they were determined to create the most sound and conservative securities firm not just in Nashville but in the entire Southeast region,鈥� Daane writes in his draft. 鈥淏rownlee was in many ways the acknowledged leader and spark plug of the firm鈥攖he deal maker par excellence. Peck was the cautious conservative whose judgment reflected a careful and judicious temperament that lent great stability to the company. And George Bullard is generally credited as the most brilliant of the trio, as well as the one whose family ties and resources were instrumental in the firm鈥檚 beginnings and initial growth.鈥�
Equitable grew at a slow and steady pace until about 1949. That鈥檚 when board minutes detail Currey鈥檚 efforts to acquire shares of American Express, which had been offered to the firm by Albert Wiggin, the former chairman of the institution that would become Chase Manhattan Bank.
Though Currey didn鈥檛 live to see the full payoff of the American Express investment, Equitable emerged as the company鈥檚 largest shareholder by the spring of 1967, with a stake worth nearly $70 million, according to The New York Times. The Times estimated the firm鈥檚 net worth at the time to be around $90 million total, behind only Merrill Lynch, with a net worth of about $161 million. One key innovation, the story noted, is that Equitable didn鈥檛 limit itself to offering services just to outside customers鈥攊t also traded in its own accounts.
By the end of 1967, American Express acquired Equitable in an all-stock deal then valued at $110 million. The subsidiary was paired with a similar financial services company that American Express had purchased a year earlier, creating a new unit called Equitable Securities, Morton & Co.
After only three years together, in 1970 American Express began closing Equitable Securities offices around the country and exploring a sale of the unit. That deal came two years later when William Cammack, the current chairman of Equitable Trust, led a group of investors who bought the Equitable name and various other assets from American Express.
Equitable Trust Co. was created in 1991 as a subsidiary of Equitable Securities, though today it is the company that remains, managing more than $2 billion for families and institutions from its Nashville headquarters.