Even when he was young, some could have said Mackie H. Gober was destined to have a long career in the financial industry. But, he said, it wasn't something he saw in himself as much as other people visualizing the destiny for him.

The longtime Memphian received his bachelor's degree in economics in 1968 from Rhodes College. But even before that time, he said he always was chosen to be the treasurer of whatever organization he might have belonged to at the time, whether it was at Rhodes or during his years at Central High School.

"So maybe that tells me people around me saw something that I maybe didn't see in myself," Gober said. "I guess the combination of my academic background and whatever draw there might have been in those formative years caused me to be interested in business."

Gober is one of three principals in Memphis-based SEACAP Financial Inc., which recently commemorated its fifth year in business.

SEACAP Financial is a business advisory firm that works with privately held or family-owned businesses. Some of the services the company provides its clients include merger and acquisition strategies, financial resources, business consulting and executive recruiting.

Some of the firm's clients include Memphis-based Lamination Service Inc., Correale Custom Homes/Correale Realtors and Tennessee Fabricating Inc.

The two other principals in the company are longtime friends of Gober's, Waldrup Brown and Bob King.

Foundations

With the more than 30 years he spent in commercial banking at then-National Bank of Commerce (NBC), Gober said the transition into SEACAP was somewhat seamless.

"Many of the foundational ingredients necessary to put a transaction together, whether it be merger and acquisition, whether it be financing or consulting, many of those foundational covenants that are required to share with a (SEACAP) client are very consistent with the principles associated with commercial banking," he said.

Gober joined NBC in 1971 as a management trainee. Over a period of 30 years, he said, he was involved with both commercial and retail initiatives for the bank and its holding company.

Gober said both his and Brown's backgrounds in banking provided a solid base for the business they're in today. The balance comes from King, the third partner.

King is the former president of Acquisitions Management Services Inc. He spent more than 26 years owning, managing, buying, selling and merging small businesses.

"Bobby has the advantage of not having worked for a large financial institution," Gober said. "He's been on the other side of the table. So, he affords us a different perspective that's very helpful. We (Gober and Brown) might look at something from an academic standpoint, but (King) has seen it from the actual application."

Family of business

It wouldn't be a stretch to say business acumen runs through Gober's blood. Not only has he spent his entire career in the financial industry, his daughter and son also have chosen paths similar to their father's.

His son, M. Howard Gober Jr., works in the investment banking division at First Tennessee Bank. And his daughter, Peria, recently became an entrepreneur, opening her own upscale women's boutique on Union Avenue.

To learn more about Peria's, which is in Midtown's Belvedere Collection, read The Daily News' Feb. 26 Small Business Spotlight at www.memphisdailynews.com.

Of course, Gober helped his daughter and continues to help out whenever she allows him. He recently joined her on one of her buying trips to purchase new merchandise for the store.

Trying to see the world

Besides being involved with his children and helping them with their careers, Gober said he likes to travel. When he retired from NBC in 2001 as executive vice president of the holding company, one of his goals was to spend more time traveling with his wife, Jane.

Over the past five years, Gober said he and his wife have been able to take at least one "significant" trip each year.

"We don't have a formal commitment to (take one trip a year), but we do try to take advantage of that opportunity when it comes along," he said. "And that's been a nice awakening experience to see different parts of the world. I'm always interested in the business and the politics, but also to be acquainted with the culture and the diversity of other parts of the world. It's been exciting."

Gober also is involved at his church, Grace St. Luke's Episcopal Church.