At a Glance
Jim Lally
Chairman and CEO of Enterprise Bank and Trust
Hometown: St. Louis
Degree: MBA, 1993
Current Position: Chairman and CEO of Enterprise Bank and Trust
Fun Fact: Lally enjoys spending time with his wife and four children. He says he does his best strategic thinking when out walking his dog, a yellow lab named Iggy.
Jim Lally learned about the science of business as an undergraduate at Saint Louis University, but he fell in love with the art of business while earning his MBA at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Lally's career launched before he finished his MBA. During the summer before his final year, an UMSL job fair helped him connect with Commerce Bank. He was accepted into the bank’s training program and immediately realized he had found his niche.
“The science of business is a finite skill, but then there’s the art of collaboration, leadership and communications that is an infinite skill,” Lally says. “I got to see both of those sides come together in the UMSL grad program.”
“It hit me right then and there: banking was the intersection of everything I love,” Lally says. “I was interested in how people made money, I was interested in how to articulate your story, I was interested in the science, the math and the business. It all came together.”
Over time, he realized he derived the most satisfaction from working with middle market companies, especially the family-owned businesses that Lally describes as relying on the service, intelligence and compassion of their financial institutions.
“You find yourself being a side-by-side partner with these companies,” Lally says. “You experience with those families their very best days, and you experience with them their very worst days. It’s often a lifetime partnership.”
Within a few years, an opportunity arose to work specifically with that market. A group of people Lally knew had recently joined Enterprise Bank & Trust, including his mentor, Peter Benoist. When an offer to join the Enterprise team was extended, Lally took a leap of faith and never looked back.
Lally, who has been with Enterprise for more than 20 years and now serves as chairman and CEO, remains involved with UMSL by speaking to classes and inspiring current students to achieve their own dreams. In his leadership role, Lally helps drive the company in its mission of guiding people to a lifetime of financial success.
Early in his tenure, Lally received a piece of advice from then-CEO Kevin Eichner that he now shares with newcomers to the company.
“[Eichner] told me that my career was a series of assignments, and it’s a long game,” Lally says. “No one knows exactly what the trajectory of your career will be, but you do know you’re going to get new assignments, and you just have to knock it out of the park every time.”