Executive Insider: David Foss

The conclusion of fiscal 2023 this summer for Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY) took the Monett-based financial software company into unprecedented territory, surpassing $2 billion in revenue for the first time in its nearly 50-year history.

While the achievement was certainly notable for board chair and CEO David Foss, he says it didn’t mark a time for celebration at the company, which employs roughly 7,100, including nearly 2,400 locally.

“It was business as usual, no fireworks,” he says, of hitting the revenue mark, which was up 7% from more than $1.9 billion in fiscal 2022.

Foss, who resides in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, has served since 2016 as CEO of the company he joined in 1999. While he says the city of roughly 41,000 residents is his home base for work with Jack Henry, Foss is well accustomed to southwest Missouri. He estimates his trips to the company’s headquarters in Monett number in the hundreds over the course of his career, adding he also frequently visits Jack Henry’s Springfield office. When flying commercial, the plane ride to Springfield is about an hour, or it’s 45 minutes to Monett when using the company plane.

“I used to joke that I’ve probably stayed at the hotel more than anybody in the history of that hotel,” he says of the Super 8 by Wyndham in Monett.

Foss notes the company operates very virtually, adding its leadership team is scattered in cities such as San Diego, Tampa, Florida, and Louisville, Kentucky. However, the 24-person team, eight members of which Foss says are under his direct supervision, gets together about four times a year.

“We are all over the country,” he says. “You add to that the fact that I travel all the time, going to investor meetings, conferences and that kind of stuff, it is just totally erratic when I actually get up to Monett.”

As an S&P 500 company, Jack Henry is a provider of technology solutions and payment processing products for the financial services industry. It has a combined roughly 8,000 banks and credit unions as clients, Foss says, adding about 1,800 of them use Jack Henry as their primary technology provider.

“We may just be doing their loan origination technology, or we may just be doing their remote deposit capture, something like that,” he says of services offered to clients.

Foss admits there’s no typical day at work, mostly because of the volume of travel.

“I’m usually on the road probably three weeks a month, where I’m gone at least two or three nights,” he says, noting a big part of his job is meeting with current and prospective investors.

“I’ve grown up in this business, and I’m passionate about customer service,” he says. “We have a lot of customers, and so for me to get around and spend time with people, it requires a lot of travel. The good news is they will normally come to me.”

Additionally, Foss travels for speaking engagements, such as Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired Conference, set for January in Phoenix. The conference is for bankers either looking to acquire a bank or to sell one, he says.

In the office, Foss conducts reviews every month with each line of business to keep up with financials and has weekly meetings with all eight members of the leadership team he supervises.

“They know we have a time set aside every week where we’re going to have a one-on-one discussion about what’s going on,” he says, noting the meetings also allow employees to ask questions and seek advice.

Greg Adelson, Jack Henry’s president and chief operating officer, has participated in those meetings all 12 years he’s worked at the company. While his titles and responsibilities have changed, Adelson says Foss is the only boss he’s had at Jack Henry.

“He’s a strong visionary in making sure his vision is communicated throughout the organization. Obviously, that starts with all of us as his directs,” Adelson says, noting Foss also is a good communicator and trustworthy. “Honestly, that to me is the biggest part of being a good leader is that folks can trust what you’re saying. You know that that particular leader has your back.”

Adelson says Foss is a leader who gives his employees leeway to let them do their job.

“He’s not a micromanager, but he holds you accountable and gives you the freedom to go make a difference,” he says.

Foss says he’s not a finance guy, noting he graduated in 1985 from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He started his career as a computer programmer by writing technology for banks and credit unions.

“This has been my career; my whole life has been centered on technology for banks and credit unions,” he says. “What I tell people all the time is with a programmer’s mindset, which is what I have, this is the most exciting time from a technology point of view that I’ve ever lived through.”

Most customers aren’t as interested today in going to bank or credit union branches to conduct business, Foss says. People want and expect to be able to do everything digitally on their phone, tablet or computer.

“That creates opportunities for a company like us. It also creates challenges. If you’re serving a customer and find a solution on their phone, they expect that experience to be just like the coolest app they have on their phone,” he says. “User experience, user design and the way things work in the hands of the average consumer, or the average business user, is top of mind for us today. It’s really fun, really exciting and really challenging.”

Away from Jack Henry, Foss says – surprisingly enough – he and Bonnie, his wife of 38 years, love to travel.

“You’d think I’d just want to stay home,” he says with a laugh.

The couple have been all over Europe and try to go twice a year with friends to Napa Valley in California.

“Both me and my wife love good wine, and so we like to go there and kind of explore,” he says of Napa Valley.

Additionally, the family, which includes three adult sons, has a lake house in Minnesota.

“You don’t want to be there in the winter. But we’re there quite a bit during the summer,” he says. “I grew up on a lake, and I want to be at a lake anytime I can. I’m a water sports kind of guy.”

Although leisure travel typically doesn’t include Springfield, Foss says he occasionally visits Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock in the Branson area. And he’s also a frequent visitor to a well-known local Mexican restaurant chain.

“People make fun of me, but I could be the spokesperson for Mexican Villa,” he says. “I’m a big fan of Mexican Villa.”

As the company has squarely turned its attention to fiscal 2024, Foss, 62, doesn’t indicate retirement is in any immediate plans – at least not that he or Adelson is ready to divulge. But Adelson says a succession plan is firmly in place deep into the organization, including the C-suite.

“One of my big focuses when I became CEO was succession planning,” Foss says. “That may be because someone wants to retire or it may be because somebody, God forbid, gets hit by a bus. Let’s make sure we have those plans and are transparent about those plans. So, we’ve been very focused on that.”