For her, money talks in foreign tongues.

• Position: Ingeborg Hegenbart, president of Southern International Corp. - People

If you ever need to know the time in Kinshasa or Alma-Ata, try Ingeborg Hegenbart.

With five clocks on her wall, the president of Southern International Corp. (the international subsidiary of Winston-Salem-based Southern National Bank) is only too glad to give you the time of day. And when foreign dignitaries or bankers come calling, Hegenbart makes a point of having the name of the visitor's city of origin under one of the clocks. After all, she's Charlotte's unofficial ambassador of world trade.

Born in the Netherlands and raised by a father who was in the import/export business and a mother who was a writer, Hegenbart earned an M.B.A. from the University of Economics there. After working for Dutch conglomerate Philips, she immigrated to America with her husband, Alex. She spent 11 years in First Union's international department and three years in export consulting, then joined Southern National in 1982 to set up an international department for the state's sixth-largest bank.

"I really missed banking ... so I came to the final interview with a five-year plan," she recalls. Now, 11 years later, Southern International is positioning itself to give bigger banks a run for their money in helping small and medium-sized corporations get in the global game. More than 400 foreign banks have opened correspondent accounts and as...