Nancy Benton 65C

Nancy Benton is a director for both the Putnam Greene Financial Corporation and the L.O. Benton Banking Foundation. Benton received her bachelor’s degree from Emory University in 1965 and her master’s degree in education from Georgia State University in 1969.

After meeting her husband Lurner O. Benton III 60Ox 65B at Emory, she assisted him in forming the company in a merger between the Farmers and Merchants Bank and the Farmers Bank of Greene County. With Nancy’s help, the Putnam Greene Financial Corporation grew to include two other regional banks, The First Bank of Coastal Georgia and the Citizens Bank of Cochran.

At the same time, the family was growing their banking interests, they also operated a petroleum service company named Benton Oil Company, and had a farm where they raised Tennessee walking horses and black angus cattle.

Benton remains involved in business and as a trustee of the L.O. Benton Banking Foundation. Since her late husband Lurner O. Benton III 60Ox 65B was a past member of the Board of Counselors at Oxford College, she maintains a connection to Oxford and Emory beyond her alumni status.