2017 Men of the Year: Jack Prim

Motivating Factors

Family: I have been married to my wife Margaret for 37 years.  We have three children: John, 29; Jessica, 31; and Stephanie, 33.
Childhood dream: For some strange reason I wanted a job where I could wear a tie to work. That is, after I realized the job of being Elvis Presley already was taken.

Jack Prim’s reputation rests on years of positive financials.

A longtime executive of Monett-based publicly traded software firm Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY), the numbers are out there for anyone to see through the company's investor relations website, financial industry reports and through the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As CEO of Jack Henry from mid-2004 to mid-2016, he led the company during a time when its stock price skyrocketed 339 percent. Jack Henry’s shares now trade at over $100 apiece.

“The (Standard & Poor’s 500 index) grew 86 percent during this same time period,” Prim says.

Prim also led the financial services software firm to a major high-water mark.

In fiscal 2012, the company’s revenue hit $1 billion for the first time. During fiscal 2016, revenue rose 8 percent to $1.4 billion compared with the prior year.

The company also now counts on over 6,000 employees to work with more than 10,000 customers through three brands: Jack Henry Banking, Symitar and ProfitStars, according to Springfield Business Journal archives and the company’s website.

“As CEO of a publicly traded company, there are significant pressures to focus on short-term financial performance,” Prim says. “I am proud that we have been able to effectively represent all of our major constituent groups – employees, shareholders and customers.

“Our employee engagement scores as measured by an external organization are substantially higher than other similar-sized companies. Our customer satisfaction scores are the highest in our industry.”

Last year, a change was on the horizon for Prim.

Jack Henry announced a switch in his role with the company.

David Foss, the company’s president since July 2014, also took on the CEO job, and Prim moved to executive chairman in July 2016. He remains a member of the board of directors.

“I worked with my successor for over four years to make sure he and the company were well prepared for this transition,” Prim says. “The transition was seamless and although our stock was trading at an all-time high at the time of the transition, it has continued to increase to even higher levels over the last year.”

Prim also is heavily involved in community-building efforts.

During the inaugural Over The Edge event held in July 2016 to support The Child Advocacy Center Inc., Prim donned a Spider-Man outfit to rappel down the Sky Eleven building downtown for the fundraiser.

His efforts brought in more than $22,000, making him the top individual fundraiser for the event.

He’s also served as a board member for the Monett Area YMCA and in a number of positions for CoxHealth, including president for its Monett advisory board and chairman of its Springfield audit committee.

His civic work doesn’t stop there. In April, he formed and chaired a committee in support of a sales tax increase to build a new public pool facility for Monett’s South Park and in May, he delivered the commencement speech for Drury University’s outgoing graduates.

“The election had twice the expected turnout for an off-year election and the initiative passed with a 75 percent favorable vote,” Prim says.