Please join us on Monday, March 19th when we will welcome Johnny Folsom – President & CEO, Colliers International and Chair of Midlands Business Leadership Group to our podium.
John Folsom is a life-long Columbian. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and holds an MBA from the University of South Carolina.
He began his career in 1974 at South Carolina Federal as a mortgage loan officer and eventually became the bank’s President and CEO until its merger with First Union in 1993. John then joined the Keenan Company, a local commercial real estate firm, as its President and CEO. The firm is now known as Colliers International.
Colliers is the largest independently owned commercial real estate firm in South Carolina with offices in Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg and Charleston. Annual sales and leasing transactions exceed $750 million and are performed by the company’s 45+ brokers. Colliers also manages in excess of 14 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties for its clients across the state and engages in construction management through its affiliate, LCK.
Johnny has been active in various community affairs including serving as the past Chair of the Boards of Hammond School, Providence Hospital, South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, University Associates and the United Way of the Midlands as well as serving as a trustee or board member of Washington and Lee, the SC Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
He has been recognized by the United Way of the Midlands as its Humanitarian of the Year, by the Columbia Chamber as its Ambassador of the Year and by Washington and Lee as a Distinguished Alumnus as well as an honorary member of ODK.
Chief among his current civic activities are his role as a founder and board member of Salute from the Shore, an organization that he, his son Andy and several others created nine years ago to pay tribute to the men and women of America’s military on the 4th of July. He also serves as the Chairman of the Midlands Business Leadership Group which is a coalition of 40+ CEOs and executives from our region’s largest employers who regularly convene to work on issues vital to the Midlands’ success.
Johnny was a member of the Columbia Rotary during his banking days over 25 years ago.
He and his wife, English, have two married children and six grandchildren, all of whom reside in Columbia.