Troy Lumpkin believes his people-pleasing nature and professional background in customer service help him not only in his job but life.
Lumpkin, a financial relationship specialist at Regions Bank in Greenwood, learned early how to make new friends in new environments. His father, Dwayne Broom, retired from the U.S. Army after more than 20 years of service. As a result, Lumpkin and his family moved around the country quite a bit.
“I was a military child,” said the 35-year-old Greenwood native. “I got used to not staying too long in one spot. You make friends today, and then tomorrow they’re gone. We were in and out.”
Lumpkin attended schools at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. “I always felt comfortable and safe,” he said of life on the bases. “We lived in a sort of bubble. We were allowed off the base, but we had to have a military ID. Older students were allowed to go to the local schools.”
Such environments taught Lumpkin how to become a “people person” at an early age, a talent that fits his banking career perfectly.
“I liked it,” he said of military life. “It gave me discipline and structure, which helped me later on.”
However, he gave only brief thought to joining the military. “I had seen enough of that kind of life,” he said. “I wanted something different for my own children.”
Lumpkin graduated from Amanda Elzy High School in 2006 and stayed in Greenwood to help take care of his grandmother, Jessie Mae Lumpkin, who died in 2020.
“I’m a grandmother’s boy,” he said. “I found a job to help provide for her.” Afterward, he moved to Memphis, where he worked at FedEx as a checker/sorter. After two years, he moved to Statesboro, Georgia, to start a family.
He gained meaningful experience working in dock operations at a Walmart distribution center in Statesboro. “That was intense,” he said. “They were very strict. I was almost in military mode.”
He learned to work efficiently and simplify operations to accomplish his tasks. His work earned commendations from Walmart, which praised his maturity, decision-making and personal engagement — all qualities he brings to the Greenwood bank.
“I like to always feel that I am changing someone’s life,” he said. “Maybe someone isn’t expecting excellent customer service. I like providing that for them.”
Lumpkin has a history of community service going back to his youth on military bases. “I saw an opportunity to improve people’s lives,” he said, adding that he would like to see similar opportunities in Greenwood.
Lumpkin worked an additional job at a shoe store in Statesboro.
One day, a young boy came in with his mother to buy shoes. “He saw the shoes I had on,” Lumpkin said, “and asked his mother to let me be the one to help him pick out shoes. We became good friends after that.”
He applies the same personal, friendly approach to the bank, where he has worked since November. “I have positivity,” he said. “I am always glad to make someone’s life better. I enjoy coming to work. There is no obstacle that can’t be defeated.”
His three children — Troy Jr., 12, Micayla, 10, and Makenzie, 5 — reside in Greenwood. Lumpkin attends Travelers Rest Missionary Baptist Church. Though he recently participated as part of the Regions team in the 300 Oaks Road Race, Lumpkin would like to see more things to do in Greenwood.
“You shouldn’t have to go out of town to a movie or a bowling alley,” he said. “I think kids get bored, and that’s why we see so many of the issues we’re seeing today.”
Lumpkin has larger dreams for the future: establishing his own business, a transportation company that hauls freight faster and cheaper than FedEx.
- Contact Dan Marsh at 662-581-7235 or dmarsh@gwcommonwealth.com.
