A rising executive with local ties was recently been named the chief executive officer of Colonial Properties Trust (CPT), owner of Colonial Brookwood Village and other retail centers in the Birmingham area.

C. Reynolds Thompson III, a former Greenville resident, was promoted to the position last month, replacing Thomas Lowder, who will stay on as chairman of the company.

Thompson joined CPT as senior vice president-office acquisitions in 1997, and was later promoted to executive vice president-office division, before his appointment as chief operating officer in September 1999.

Thompson, whose father and grandfather were bankers with the former First National Bank of Greenville, moved to the Camellia City as a small child. He grew up in a house on Manningham Road and graduated from Fort Dale Academy in 1981.

The executive credits the school with giving him a solid educational foundation.

&uot;I attended all 12 years at Fort Dale Academy and it was a fantastic experience. We had teachers who took a lot of interest in me and all my classmates,&uot; Thompson said in a phone interview.

&uot;We were taught to believe in ourselves and know we could go on to accomplish whatever we set out to do.&uot;

Thompson’s grandmother, Annie Laurie Thompson, still lives in the area as a resident of Pine Needle Place.

&uot;While I don’t have immediate family still living in Greenville, I have many good friends there and I think it is a great town.&uot;

While much has changed in Greenville since his school days, Thompson said he hopes the Camellia City’s special small-town brand of strong values always remains the same.

&uot;It was a great place to grow up. I had a wonderful experience during my time in Greenville.&uot;