Arlender Jones is a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi. She graduated from the University of Mississippi, University, MS with a B.B.A. in Banking and Finance and received her Certification in Banking from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. She is an employee of a large regional bank. She previously served as President and CEO of Sunbelt National Bank in Dallas, Texas, Emerald City Bank, Seattle Washington, and Gulf Federal Bank, Mobile, AL. She moved to Memphis in 2002 to become EVP and COO of MemphisFirst Community Bank where the served in that position until the bank was acquired by outside investors. Arlender has devoted her career to banking and financial literacy. She believes that it was ordained by God. She feels personally obligated to spread the word about financial literacy in an effort to help people understand how the world of finance works and how to improve their financial health and stability as well as build personal wealth. To that end she has begun a ministry where she makes herself available to various groups to teach financial literacy skills and advise individuals on how to manage personal finances including reducing debt and increasing savings. Arlender is a member of St. Andrew A.M.E. Church where she heads the MoneyWorks Ministry. She strives to live by the following Bible passage in Matthew 6:25-27: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
