“These iconic civil rights leaders paved the way for me to be where I am today, and they also remind me that I must pay it forward and bring others along with me.”

Branch oversees about 2,000 employees, 25 branch offices in the Richmond area, and a technology and operations center in Henrico County.

In addition to being regional president for one of the country’s largest banks, he is a senior vice president for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank and market manager for Richmond and Hampton Roads in enterprise business and community engagement.

“I feel very fortunate that I have reached those ranks,” said Branch, who celebrated his 32nd anniversary with BofA and its predecessor banks in June.

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Reared in DeWitt in Dinwiddie County, Branch, 54, was the youngest of five children.

His father was a laborer who worked in the Brown & Williamson tobacco plant in Petersburg. His mother was a nurses aide and worked for 30 years in the recently closed Southside Virginia Training Center.

Neither finished high school. “They went right into working, which was not uncommon growing up in the 1940s and ’50s.”

People in their generation from rural areas either worked on the farm or in the factories.

“I didn’t want that as my lifestyle,” Branch said. “My parents encouraged me to get my education, go to college and look for other opportunities.”

Two of his three sisters are nurses. The other is retired from Chesterfield County, where she was a wastewater specialist for more than 20 years. His brother is a graphic artist.

“My roots are deep in the region,” said Branch, who — unlike most of his banking peers — never left the Richmond area as he rose through the ranks.

***

“I found the company right out of college that was a good fit for me,” said Branch, who graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1984 and then joined Sovran Bank in Richmond as a management trainee.

The newly formed Sovran Bank resulted from a merger between First & Merchants Bank of Richmond and Virginia National Bankshares of Norfolk, “the merger of all mergers,” said Branch, adding that it would set the tone for years for bank mergers here and elsewhere.

“I figured I would work here for five years and go do something else,” Branch said. “I didn’t know I would become a career banker.”

Branch worked in branch offices before moving into marketing, sales and other areas of the company. The best grass-roots training, he said, was working in branches directly with customers.

With each promotion, Branch expanded his skill set. “I found my niche in the company I started with, growing in this company, being challenged, never getting bored and always able to stretch my abilities and broaden my skill sets.”

Sovran merged in 1990 with Citizens & Southern National Bank and, through a series of other mergers, became Bank of America in 1999.

In 2001, Branch went to work as the chief of staff for G.S. “Sandy” Fitz-Hugh Jr., the state president of Bank of America. He had worked for Fitz-Hugh during his first years at Sovran.

“A couple of things stood out for me,” Fitz-Hugh said about Branch’s early days at the bank. “Victor was from Dinwiddie County, and he worked very hard in high school and at William & Mary — a tribute to his dedication and work ethic.”

Fitz-Hugh said he was impressed as well with his people skills. “Victor has never met a stranger. He gets along well with people. He has a great personality and a great sense of humor. That lends itself to a career dealing with people. His real gift is dealing with people.”

He is a good listener and will reach out to people, Fitz-Hugh said. “Anyone in the community would agree Victor is easy to get along with, very goal-oriented.”

Fitz-Hugh, as president for Virginia, was focused on state issues. “I needed someone to do community work in the Richmond area, and Victor was a natural at that,” Fitz-Hugh said about Branch as chief of staff.

***

Active in the community, Branch sits on boards including Housing Opportunities Made Equal, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and ChamberRVA.

He is chairman of his favorite organization — Virginia’s Gateway Region, an economic development alliance for the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg, and the counties of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Surry and Sussex.

“It’s all about economic development and bringing quality jobs in the region,” Branch said about Virginia’s Gateway Region.

He feels a special affinity as well for Housing Opportunities Made Equal, a statewide housing advocacy group based in Richmond. “It’s all about removing barriers and providing access to housing, which is fundamental to any family’s stability and well-being.”

***

Branch, the father of two daughters now in their early 20s, said he often tells them how fortunate he is.

“I clearly see that if you work hard and smart and do the right thing, you will be rewarded and have opportunity. … I don’t use any excuses. I have never felt that my skin color has been a hindrance.”

Branch met his wife, Michele, in the eighth grade in DeWitt. She, too, came from a family of five children, three girls and two boys. Friends through school, they rediscovered each other after college and married in 1988. She works as an orthodontist assistant.

Their high school class of 1980 ended up with the largest number of people married to one another. “Eight couples and most are still together,” Branch said.

He said he has had many careers in the same company and never lacked for a challenge. “I have seen people come and go — for one reason or another they didn’t embrace the bank’s value system,” he said. “I work for the best company in the country, a company that truly values its employees.”

“He embraced us and grew with us through the years,” said Mary DePillars, a retired human resources executive with Bank of America who has followed Branch’s career from his trainee days to his ascension to regional president.

“I saw a young man who was hungry,” she said, recalling Branch as a management trainee applicant. “I told him I had an affinity for country boys. They had a work ethic that seemed to be different from others. I sensed he had a strong work ethic. I also saw a poised young man getting into the right career. He had done very well in college.”

DePillars, the widow of Murry N. DePillars, retired dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Arts, said she was not surprised to see Branch succeed.

“The goal was for him to rise to the top,” she said, adding that he is an industry survivor, amenable to change.