By Mark H. Stowers • Photography By Johnny Jennings
Hugh Warren IV is making a difference in the Delta. The fourth generation Greenwood native, Cruger Tchula, Pillow Academy and Ole Miss alum has made a career in banking after growing up on the family farm.
“I grew up in the Delta and had been working in the Jackson area, but I’ve been back in Greenwood for the past three years,” says Warren.” Actually, I grew up in Sidon on the Refuge Plantation where my father and grandfather had row crops and a cattle operation.
After earning a banking and finance degree from the University of Mississippi, Warren moved to to Jackson to begin his career with Trustmark Bank. However, it was while in high school he first got a taste of the banker’s life.
“One of the bank presidents in Greenwood asked if I wanted an internship with his bank and I asked him what that would be,” says Warren. “He said, ‘you’ll be in this air conditioned building working with all these ladies.’ And I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ In all actuality, my father had encouraged me to look at some kind of business or finance degree. And, I’ve been in banking ever since.”
Warren had brief stint serving in the Air Force and the Air Force Reserves while living in Texas.
“That was something I had always considered,” he says. “I was single and it kept gnawing at me. I went to Lackland Air Force base and went through the officer training program and came out as a Second Lieutenant and then went to pilot training in Columbus. I ended up not doing active service and finished in the reserves.”
Warren got back into banking and when Trustmark needed him in Greenwood, and he came back home in January of 2020.
Now, he serves as the President of Trustmark Bank’s Greenwood market and also is the Market Leader for Greenville, Leland, Greenwood, Carthage and Philadelphia which includes the Indian tribe. Helping the next generation of Delta residents understand and learn banking and finances is a top priority. And at Trustmark, they put their month where their mouth is—literally.
“We partner with some of the local schools,” he says. “Primarily the charter schools—Delta Streets Academy and Leflore Legacy Academy. As part of our CRA—Community Reinvestment Act—responsibilities, we do a lot of financial literacy, financial education classes and we go to the schools and teach different classes and students the basics of banking, how do you open an account and why do you need an account and the importance of credit and getting loans. It’s based on the age group and we try to instill in them the importance of handling your business properly. It’s never too early to start a relationship with a bank.”
Warren is a Rotary Club member and also serves as the president of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce for 2023.
He’s also the incoming president for The Museum of the Mississippi Delta in Greenwood. And he’s on the board of Main Street Greenwood, part of the Mississippi Main Street Community that “helps with the betterment of our city and town and county and show a positive influence of what’s going on here.”
Warren and his three sons enjoy hunting, deep sea fishing, scuba diving as well as getting to the beach and snow skiing.
