Early years
Joe is a native of Monroe County, Georgia and was raised on his family farm in the Smarr community. He graduated from Mary Persons High School in 1967 where he was captain of the football team, editor of the school newspaper and president of student council.
College
Joe enrolled at Georgia Tech in the fall of 1967. He graduated in the spring of 1971 with a Batchelor of Science in Industrial Management degree with Highest Honor. At Tech he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Ramblin Wreck Club, Phi Kappa Phi, and Beta Gamma Sigma. He was one of the first interns from Tech to the Georgia Legislature.
Career Highlights
After a couple of short-term jobs and active-duty military service, Joe returned home in 1974 to become Vice President of Monroe County Bank in Forsyth Georgia. While in Forsyth, he also served as President of the Chamber of Commerce and as Police Committee Chairman on the Forsyth City Council. A memorable experience from his city council service was having the mayor arrested.
In 1980, Joe left Monroe County Bank to become CEO of First State Bank in Marshallville, Georgia. First State was a newly acquired subsidiary of Bank Corporation of Georgia. He was named CEO of Bank Corporation in 1984.
After growing Bank Corporation’s assets from $25 million to $300 million, he merged BCG with Century South Banks, Inc. in 1997. Combined assets were slightly over $1 billion. He initially became President and COO of Century South and was named CEO in 1999. Century South, with $1.5 billion in assets, was acquired by BB&T in 2001.
In 2002, Joe led a private equity recapitalization of Flag Financial Corporation which had total assets of about $500 million. Upon closing of the recap, he became Flag’s Chairman and CEO. After moving the bank’s headquarters to Atlanta and growing its assets to $1.6 billion, Flag was acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada in December of 2006 for cash.
During his two-year non-compete period which ran through December of 2008, Evans and his team joint ventured a hedge fund and operated a distressed debt fund.
In 2009, Evans and his team executed a $300 private equity raise to recapitalize State Bank and Trust, a small South Georgia bank. Using State Bank as an acquisition vehicle, from 2009 through 2011 they acquired 12 failed banks in the Macon and Atlanta MSAs. In 2019, State Bank, with $5 billion in assets merged with Cadence Bancorporation. At that time, Evans retired from active management but remained on the Cadence board of directors. In 2024 he was named lead independent director. In February of 2026, Cadence was acquired by Huntington Bancshares. This brough Evans’ banking journey to a close.
Involvements outside the bank
Georgia Tech
Past roles: Chair of Alumni Association, Chair of Scheller Advisory Board, Chair of Georgia Tech Foundation, Member of the Alexander Tharpe Fund board.
Current roles: Scheller Advisory Board, Emeritus Trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation
Past Community Involvement
Forsyth City Council, Police Committee Chair
Fort Valley City Council, Police Committee Chair
Monroe County Chamber of Commerce President
Buckhead Coalition Chair
Current Community Involvement
Board member, Monroe County Sport Hall of Fame
Chair of Investment Committee, Methodist Children’s Home Foundation.
Lay Leader, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Smarr, GA
Columnist, Monroe County Reporter (local weekly newspaper)
Personal
Married to Raena Weaver Evans. On 3-12-26, we will celebrate our 50th anniversary.
2 daughters: Liz Corbett and Bonnie Martin
Eight grandchildren and one great-grandson
Awards
Joseph Mayo Petit Distinguished Service Award 2015
Monroe County Golden Eagle Award- Boy Scouts of America 2022
Lifetime Achievement Award- Atlanta Business Chronicle “Deals of the Year” 2024
Regents Hall of Fame Alumni and Distinguished Friends Award- University System of Georgia- 2024