Robert James II

Robert is the president of America’s only Black-owned multibank holding company, Carver Financial Corp., and its operating subsidiaries, Carver State Bank in Savannah, Georgia, and Alamerica Bank in Birmingham, Alabama. He also serves as executive director of Carver’s nonprofit CDFI affiliate, Catalyst Development Corp.

Carver has grown substantially under Robert's leadership, won $80 million in New Markets Tax Credits from the U.S. Treasury, and created hundreds of jobs in distressed communities across the state. Robert also led the first syndicate of Black banks to finance a project for a major American sports franchise, the 2021 refinancing of the Atlanta Hawks practice facility. 

Robert is a past chairman of the National Bankers Association, a board observer for Global Holdings LLC, and a board member of the National Black Bank Foundation. He founded and chairs the National Bankers Foundation Association and has served on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Advisory Committee on Community Banking and on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council. 

He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor's degree from Howard University. Robert is a member of the Alpha Lambda Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and enjoys cooking and travel. He graduated from Savannah Country Day School in 1988 and received its 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award.