Thomas Harris is a retired investment banker and entrepreneur who has founded several successful ventures. After graduating from Auburn University in 1971 with a business degree, Harris worked for First Alabama Bancshares, now Regions, as head of national accounts and business development.
In 1987 he became founder and president of Merchant Capital, a leading investment banking firm based in Montgomery, with offices throughout the Southeast. The firm has managed thousands of bond issues financing governmental entities, education, infrastructure, and economic development projects supporting and enhancing growth throughout Alabama. Under Harris’ leadership, Merchant Capital was named the number one investment bank in Alabama by issue volume for over 20 straight years by Thomson Reuters. Merchant Capital was acquired by Stifel Nicolaus Financial Corporation in 2014, and since then, Stifel has become the number one ranked investment banker of municipal bonds in the U.S. for the last 10 years.
In 2021, Harris founded Birmingham Recovery Center and Longleaf Wellness and Recovery Centers, which provides treatment for substance use and mental health disorders with four facilities across Alabama. “We want to make high-quality mental health and substance use treatment options more accessible for the people of Alabama because one death caused by alcohol or drug addiction is one too many,” Harris said in a 2023 interview. In 2023 he partnered in launching YHN Media Group, LLC, which owns several Alabama-based media outlets, including 256 Today News, Yellowhammer News, Soul Grown, and YHN Radio Network.
A native Alabamian who grew up in the Black Belt region, so named for its rich, dark soil, Harris remembers quail hunting as a boy, when the birds were everywhere. “You didn’t need a dog,” he told Buckmasters in a 2022 video interview. “You just needed to start walking.” When cattle farming began to drive out indigenous wildlife, it awakened a conservationist impulse in Harris. He saw the potential to reclaim some of the Black Belt land, starting with Gusto, his own 1800-acre preserve in Lowndes County. “You can turn a cattle property into a wildlife preserve,” he said. “It just takes some time.” Harris used best practices to remove invasive grasses like bermuda, fescue, and bahia, releasing the warm-season native grasses, and in turn, restoring the grasslands to its natural beauty.
In 2009, to further conservation and drive revenue in the economically depressed Black Belt region, Harris founded and now serves as president of Alabama Black Belt Adventures, a state-funded nonprofit organization committed to promoting outdoor recreation and tourism opportunities in the 23 counties of the Alabama Black Belt region. He was recently named to the national board of directors of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and in 2019, was named Alabama Wildlife Governor’s Conservationist of the Year. Harris serves on numerous boards, including the Alabama Wildlife Federation, the Alabama Forest Land Trust, and Junior Achievement of Alabama. He is also the founding sponsor of the Wetumpka Wildlife Art Festival.
Harris and his wife, Cindy, reside in Lowndes County and have four children and seven grandchildren.
