The Daily Interview: Zions Bancorporation's Harris Simmons

The year 2000 will certainly go down as a memorable one for Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation (ZION Quote). A near-decade long period of solid growth and shareholder return was disrupted by a botched multibillion dollar merger with fellow home-state bank First Security, an event that promptly sent Zions stock into a tailspin early in the year.

Harris Simmons President and CEO Zions Bancorporation

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President and CEO Harris Simmons says the experience taught him lessons about how to look at potential deals going forward -- in particular, the importance of retaining valued employees amid potential mergers. Simmons took over the reins of the bank in 1990 from his father, Roy, who remains chairman of the board. The younger Mr. Simmons has presided over Zions' growth from a bank with $3.5 billion in assets and fewer than 100 branches then, to one with $22 billion in assets and about 370 branches spread across Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington now. ...