Jim Wells led one of the largest banks in America, and the first thing I would tell you about him is that he showed up.

When he joined the Operation HOPE national board in November 2010, he was the Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks. The industry was still deep in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and plenty of his peers had decided the best place to be was out of the light. Jim walked toward the work. He put SunTrust behind the HOPE Center at Ebenezer with a $1 million commitment, then took on the fundraising campaign for the $10 million center and asked other bank leaders to join him. When we presented him with the Chairman’s HOPE Award in 2011, I thanked him for leading when others had not, and I meant every word.

In 2015, Jim took on the chairmanship of the HOPE Inside National Advisory Board. HOPE Inside is our answer to a simple question: what if the bank on the corner could also be the place a person learns how to build credit, save, and plan? Jim understood that idea at once. He lent it his credibility with the industry, and the banking world listened because he was the one speaking. He and his wife, Jane, also stood with us as members through the Wells Family Foundation.

have called Jim a recognized statesman in banking, and I still think that is the right phrase. A statesman measures success by what the whole community gains. Jim’s record with us reflects that. He believed that giving people the tools to move forward is how they take charge of their own lives, and he committed his institution’s resources and his own standing to make that belief practical.

Operation HOPE will continue the work he helped build. Every person who sits down with a HOPE coach and leaves with a credit plan carries a small piece of Jim’s legacy forward.

Jane and the entire Wells family are in our prayers. Thank you, Jim, for leading.