About John Blackmon

Upon graduation from the University of Alabama in 1969, John served as an Officer in the U.S. Army until March 1972, at which time he joined Merrill Lynch as an Account Executive Trainee in Pensacola, Florida.

In February, 1984 he was assigned to the Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Office as the Resident Manager. In July, 1987, he passed Merrill Lynch’s Assessment Center for Management Development and was reassigned to Houston, Texas and subsequently became the Resident Vice President for the One Allen Center Office. Over the following 10 years, his Manager assignments extended to New Mexico, Tallahassee and South Florida Complexes.

In February 1998, John was selected to Lead a Pilot Project to create a Virtual Branch for select Merrill Clients through the establishment of Call Centers. The locations were in Somerset, New Jersey, Denver, Colorado and Jacksonville, Florida. This led to what is today’s Merrill Edge Program for Self-directed accounts with Advisor access.

In September 2001, John decided to return to a Private Advisory Practice again in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He remained there until his retirement from Merrill in December 2008. The following Spring, he began an Independent Advisory Practice and in November 2021, joined Josh Slocum’s McClellan Wealth Management.

Throughout his 50-year career, he has stringently adhered to his Principles based Philosophy that Client Interest always comes first, responsible Citizenship, and uncompromising integrity: There is no right way to do a wrong thing.”

John and his Wife, Jenny, formerly Virginia Andrews of Birmingham, have been married for over 53 years and reside in Calera, Alabama at Timberline Lane. John has served on the University of Alabama’s President’s Cabinet, the Culverhouse Board of Visitors and in 2003 established the Blackmon Family Endowed C & BA Scholarship.

John E. Blackmon
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