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Jan 10, 2013 — Duncan Williams poses for a portrait in his office. The head of the investment banking firm named after his father is being honored as one of this year’s Society of Entrepreneurs inductees. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)
From The Commercial Appeal, March 29, 2013
By James Dowd
Editor’s note: This profile completes a five-part series on the 2013 Society of Entrepreneurs inductees, who will be honored during a black-tie gala April 13.
As a youngster, Duncan Williams didn’t really comprehend the business intricacies of his family’s municipal bond firm, but he clearly understood his father’s insistence on building an honorable company with honorable people.
After his father’s death when the younger Williams was only 21, the then-college student committed himself to that tradition and put it into practice when he later assumed leadership of the business.
And while some of the company’s specifics have changed — Duncan-Williams Inc. is now an investment banking firm that counts more than 200 employees in Memphis and branch offices in 14 cities — its founding principles haven’t.
“It used to be that business deals were done with a handshake and your word was your bond,” Williams said. “Things are done differently today and instead of handshakes everything is electronic, but I believe in doing business with integrity. That’s how we operate.”
From its origin as a municipal bond dealer in 1969 with four employees, Duncan-Williams has expanded to include divisions in sales, finance and underwriting of fixed income securities. For his role in leading the transforming the company into a larger presence in the industry, Williams will be inducted into the Memphis Society of Entrepreneurs. And he’ll also be celebrated for his significant support of the local community.
“Duncan is such a generous leader, from the arts to cultural events to getting business leaders to increase efforts to attract and retaining young professional talent,” said New Memphis Institute president Nancy Coffee. “From Downtown to Midtown to East Memphis and in the suburbs, Duncan actively dedicates himself to making our community more vibrant.”
Iddo Patt, a filmmaker and president of Indie Memphis, agreed.
“Duncan has a real vision for the community,” Patt said. “He contributes incredible resources to making that vision become reality.”
That wasn’t always the game plan, Williams acknowledged. While enrolled as a marketing student and walk-on basketball player at the University of Alabama, he experienced the sudden loss of his father and at first decided to leave school and return to his hometown. But with his mother’s encouragement he earned a degree and went to work for a financial firm in Birmingham with an idea of eventually working on Wall Street.
But after several years in Alabama, Williams traded his dreams of the Big Apple for a stint at his family’s firm in the Bluff City and in 1993 he came home to learn the business from the ground up. He served in a variety of roles until 2000, when the company’s leadership asked Williams to become president of the firm.
“It was really scary and looking back I don’t think I knew how scary it was, but what helped was having so many of the right people along with me,” Williams said. “Our company is still like that. It’s not always about the right resume or the right education. It’s about the right people and we’ve got them. We’re like a family.”
Building a cohesive team, Williams said, enabled the company to operate more efficiently during the economic uncertainties of the last few years. And he makes certain that new workers become involved in the community by developing connections with local nonprofits, civic, cultural and entrepreneurial organizations with the hope that they’ll become enthusiastic community leaders.
“Duncan is working from within, in a very hands-on way, to promote our community,” said Erik Jambor, executive director of Indie Memphis. “It’s not just talk or a corporate check. This is an integral part of his company.”
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