Come together.

• Position: Triangle

Scott Custer is playing a complicated game of mix and match. In 2009, the ex-CEO of RBC Bank USA helped start Raleigh-based Piedmont Community Bank Holdings Inc. with the aim of building a statewide banking power through the acquisition of distressed banks. It took control of Burlington-based VantageSouth Bank in 2010, and Community Bank of Rowan and Raleigh-based Crescent Financial Services Inc., parent of Crescent State Bank, in 2011. It then merged Community Bank of Rowan into VantageSouth.

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If Charlotte is North Carolina's business capital, why do the state's richest residents live in the Triangle? Because that's where Cary-based SAS Institute Inc. is and its co-founders are. They're the two richest Tar Heels, according to Forbes magazine's 2012 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.

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Overall Name Net Age Residence Industry rank worth 47 James $7.3 69 Cary Software Goodnight billion 108 John Sail $3.6 64 Cary Software billion 250 C.D. $1.9 80 Charlotte Investments Spangler Jr. billion But a pair of recent transactions should bring clarity to the company and reveal that Custer is well on his way to achieving his goal. In August, Crescent announced a merger with VantageSouth. A month later, it unveiled a planned acquisition of Engelhard-based ECB...