While earning a B.A. degree in mathematics at Birmingham-Southern College, in 1969, Steve began his career with Protective Life Insurance Company in Birmingham, Alabama, as a student actuary. He worked in various capacities including product development and pension valuation before joining the Advanced Underwriting Department where he was involved in agent training in advanced uses of the life insurance product.
In June 1977, he resigned as Assistant Vice President to take an agent’s contract in direct sales. He qualified for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table in his first six months and each year thereafter, becoming a life member. In 1979, he took over as head of the Birmingham Agency of Protective and built one of the company’s largest agency operations, recruiting and training inexperienced agents in the life insurance and financial planning business.
In 1982, he was the founder and president of First Protective Insurance Group, a general agency representing Protective as well as other companies, which is now a leading brokerage agency in the Southeast. In 1986, he returned to the Protective Life home office as Senior Vice President in charge of individual life sales and ultimately moved to Executive Vice President in charge of all the individual products, including the life and annuity lines.
During his tenure at Protective Life, the company grew from being a regional company to one of the industry’s largest, as a top five producer of term life products and known for innovation in product design and distributor relationship management. He served the industry as a board member of various organizations, including LIMRA and LOMA, local chapters of NALU (now NAIFA), GAMA, and CLU. He was a founding board member and the past president of the Alabama Planned Giving Council.
He has served the community as a board member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, United Way of Central Alabama and the Birmingham Chapter of American Red Cross. He currently serves as Chairman of the Norton Board of Advisors at Birmingham-Southern College, Chairman of the Board of The Foundry Rescue Mission and Recovery Center and Chairman of the Board of The Freedom Source. He has served his church in various capacities including teacher, deacon and elder and is a member of The Church of the Highlands.
He is married to the former Lynn Bryan and they have three children, Alex, Stephen and Lacey, and two grandchildren, John Alexander and Callie Marie.