Hugh McColl | |
|---|---|
 McColl in 2009 | |
| Born | (1935-06-18)June 18, 1935 (age 90) |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BSBA) |
| Known for | Former Chairman, CEOBank of America |
| Spouse | Jane Bratton Spratt McColl |
| Relatives | John Spratt (brother-in-law) |
| Website | http://www.falfurriascapital.com |
Hugh Leon McColl Jr. (born June 18, 1935) is a former business executive who was the CEO ofNationsBank[1] and the former chairman and the first CEO ofBank of America. Active in banking since around 1960, McColl was a driving force behindconsolidating a series of progressively larger, mostly Southern banks, thrifts and financial institutions into a super-regional banking force, "the first ocean-to-ocean bank in the nation's history".[2]
Tony Plath, director of banking studies at theUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte, described this transformation in 2005 as "the most significant banking story of the late 20th century."[3] In 2012, journalistMatt Taibbi described the transition as "a cartoonish arms race of bank acquisitions that would ultimately turn the American business world upside down".[4] As a young man, McColl along with a colleague,[3] had envisioned creating the first truly national bank with branches from coast to coast.[3]
McColl was born inBennettsville, South Carolina,[5] to Hugh Leon McColl (1905–1994), a cotton farmer and banker[2] and Frances Pratt Carroll McColl (1906–1987), an artist.[5] He is of Scottish Presbyterian descent[6] and had a sister and two brothers. Their paternal great-grandfather, Duncan Donald McColl (1842–1911) was an attorney who had developed the first railroad (the 50-mile (80 km)South Carolina Pacific Railway[7]) and the firstcotton mills inMarlboro County. He also founded the Bank of Marlboro, later headed by his son Hugh L. McColl, (1874–1931), followed by his grandson Hugh Leon McColl.[5] McColl's father liquidated the Bank of Marlboro in 1939 during the Great Depression.[2] He later bought a controlling interest in Marlboro Trust Co. As a youth, Hugh McColl went to work part-time at age 14 for thetrust company[3] and his father's cotton company, McColl Cotton Mills. He learned to keep books, securing payments, learningdouble-entry accounting and driving acrossNorth andSouth Carolina to make deposits.[8]
McColl was elected student council president at Bennettsville High School, and class president in his senior year (1953). He was voted Best All-Round Boy in his senior class.[3] His yearbook quotation read: "He who is talented in leadership holds the world's dream in his grip."[3] After graduating from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1957, McColl joined theUnited States Marine Corps and served a two-year tour of duty until 1959.[9] Honorably discharged, he returned to North Carolina.[citation needed] According to McColl, his father pushed him into banking, saying that he "didn't have the brains for farming."[10] McColl married after college. He declined an offer from his father-in-law, John McKee Spratt (1907–1973), a banker, attorney, and judge,[11] to work at the Bank of Fort Mill, a small family-owned bank.[7] McColl accepted his father's arranging an introduction to officers at another bank. Young McColl went to work as a management trainee for American Commercial Bank inCharlotte, North Carolina.[7][8]
In 1960, a year after McColl joined American Commercial Bank, the bank merged with Greensboro's Security National Bank, becomingNorth Carolina National Bank.[12] Vigorously competitive, McColl deployed a methodical,military approach to transforming the small regional bank, via incremental acquisitions and mergers, intoNationsBank and ultimatelyBank of America.[7][3][13]
McColl became President of NCNB in 1974 at age 39.[7] In 1982, the bank made its first major out-of-state purchase—First National Bank of Lake City, Florida.[14] This was the first in a wave of mergers and acquisitions during the 1980s. This was initially a defensive measure intended to make NCNB and other major Southern banks too rich to be taken over by New York money center banks. Most of those were orchestrated by McColl, who became CEO in 1983.
NCNB made national headlines with its purchase of the failedFirst Republic Bank Corporation ofDallas,Texas from theFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1988). Over the next few years, it acquired more than 200 thrifts and community banks, many through theResolution Trust Corporation program (1989 to 1992).[15] In 1991, NCNB bought C&S/Sovran ofAtlanta andNorfolk, Virginia, which was the result of a merger a year earlier betweenCitizens & Southern National Bank of Atlanta andSovran Bank of Norfolk.[12] The merged bank changed its name toNationsBank.
After the NationsBank merger, the bank acquired Maryland National Corporation (1992),Chicago Research and Trading Group (1993),[16] BankSouth (1995),St. Louis-basedBoatmen's Bancshares (1996),Jacksonville, Florida basedBarnett Bank (1997) andMontgomery Securities (1997).
In April 1998, under McColl's direction, NationsBank boughtSan Francisco-based BankAmerica. Although NationsBank was the nominal survivor and the merged bank was (and still is) headquartered in Charlotte, the merged company took the better-known name ofBank of America.[12] Among other later acquisitions, Bank of America in 2004 acquiredFleetBoston Financial, thus ultimately holding the country's oldest bank charter (1784).[17]
Strategically, McColl blunted opposition to the bank mergers and acquisitions by pledging in advance billion in loans for low-income neighborhoods, particularly with the creation of NationsBank and Bank of America.[18]
During the2008 financial crisis, after McColl's retirement, Bank of America was dubbed "too big to fail" and received $45 billion in federal government funds.[4] In a 2012 article forRolling Stone titledBank of America: Too Crooked to Fail, authorMatt Taibbi attributed factors at Bank of America leading up to the2008 financial crisis directly to McColl's creation of a coast to coast bank,[4] saying the "concept of an overmassive, acquiring-everything-in-sight, bicoastal megabank was hatched" in a "terminal inferiority complex"[4] and described McColl (along withEd Crutchfield of thenFirst Union) as having launched "a cartoonish arms race of bank acquisitions that would ultimately turn the American business world upside down."[4]
After handing off day-to-day bank operations in 1999[19] and fully retiring from Bank of America in 2001,[20] McColl partnered with other Charlotte banking executives to form McColl Partners, aninvestment banking firm which advises mid-sized companies on mergers and acquisitions[21] with offices in Charlotte and Dallas,[22] co-foundedFalfurrias Capital Partners in 2006, a Charlotte-basedprivate equity firm, foundedMcColl Garella (2002–2006) an investment banking company serving firms owned by women,[23][24] opened Charlotte-basedMcColl Fine Art in 2003,[24] and partnered to create New York-basedMME Fine Art in 2005.[25] McColl subsequently established and was chairman ofMBL Advisors Holdings, LLC (McColl Brother Lockwood), a Charlotte-based company with his son-in-law, Luther Lockwood, as managing principal and providing wealth transfer planning, business succession and executive benefits services to business owners and public company executives. In 2009, McColl Partners joined an international network of investment banks called Clairfield Partners, which collaborates on international deals.[21]
McColl has been on the board of directors ofSykes Enterprises Inc.,[26] Canal Industries;Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System; Charlotte Center City Partners; Charlotte Latin School from 1977 to 1982,Cousins Properties, Inc.; Faison Associates; Foundation for the Carolinas; General Parts, Inc.; NuTech Solutions Inc.;Harris Teeter; andSonoco Products Company.[27]
McColl has supported a broad range of academic, civic and arts causes for Charlotte, the state of North Carolina and the Southeast — strongly encouraging Charlotte's urban redevelopment (enabled by Bank of America's revitalization of Fourth Ward and building of Gateway Village in Third Ward),[28] playing a key role in Charlotte's attracting theCarolina PanthersNational Football League[28] and theCharlotte HornetsNational Basketball Association franchises,[29] supportingHabitat for Humanity,[28] chairing The Forum for Corporate Responsibility (2003),[28] financing inner-city and minority-owned businesses,[29] encouraging light and high-speed rail, and supporting civil rights[29] and gay rights.[29]
The headquarters of theKenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill was named the McColl Building upon its completion in 1997 in recognition of McColl's efforts on behalf of his alma mater. McColl hasmentored students of the McColl Business School atQueens University of Charlotte where he served on the Board of Trustees for 19 years (1991–2005).[30] McColl gave the initial for Charlotte's Teaching Fellows Institute, and McColl's daughter, Jane McColl Lockwood, is president of Charlotte-based McColl Foundation.[31]
Many of McColl's philanthropic contributions have focused on his family. He endowed the Charlotte Children's Theatre which includes theMcColl family Theater,[32] funded theMcColl Center for Visual Art (a Charlotte-based organization that promotes the visual arts in the Southeast),[33] endowed an English professorship at theNorfolk Academy,Norfolk, Virginia in honor of first cousin Edith Pratt Breeden (Patty) Masterson (1922–1997, attorney, teacher),[34] and endowed a professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science in honor of his mother Frances Pratt Carroll McColl and sister Frances Carroll McColl Covington (1932–1990).[35]
"My mother taught everyone in the family to love books, and we have prospered from having access to them and, perhaps more important, knowing where to turn to find the information we need." Recalling hours his mother spent reading to her four children in Bennettsville, S.C., McColl said, "I think we were educated far beyond my school system."[35]
In 1995 Bank of America bought a burned out church on North Tryon Street with the express purpose of converting it into an artist's residency. With McColl's support, and working with FMK Architects and Charlotte's Arts & Science Council, the structure was completely refurbished and eventually became theMcColl Center for Art + Innovation.[36]
In 1991, McColl purchased, restored, and relocated one of his great-grandfather Duncan Donald McColl's homes inBennettsville, South Carolina and then donated it to Marlboro County.[37] It became a new home for the Marlboro County Chamber of Commerce and The South Carolina Cotton Trail.[38]
In 1998 and 2004, Jane Spratt McColl, with Hugh McColl, donated 400 acres (1.6 km2) on theCatawba River inYork County, South Carolina nearRock Hill, South Carolina for an environmental museum,[39] possibly to be named the Museum of Life and the Environment, with building design by architectWilliam McDonough.
Rick Hendrick had started The Hendrick Automotive Group in 1976 as a singleChevrolet dealership inBennettsville, South Carolina[40] (McColl's home town), and sat on the Board of Directors during McColl's tenure as chairman of NationsBank, which in turn became Bank of America with McColl as chairman and CEO. Hendrick later pleaded guilty to mail fraud[41] and admitted to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, automobiles, and houses toAmerican Honda Motor Company executives — eventually requesting a pardon from PresidentBill Clinton. McColl wrote to Clinton recommending a pardon for Hendrick and subsequently announced on December 7, 2000, Bank of America Foundation would donate $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation. On December 21, 2000, Clinton granted a pardon to Hendrick.[42][43] McColl denied having a role in the bank foundation's contribution to the Clinton library, saying the foundation had also donated $500,000 to the presidential library ofGeorge H. W. Bush and $225,000 to the library ofRonald Reagan.[44]
McColl supported Bill Clinton for president, at one time voted forGeorge W. Bush, and supportedBarack Obama for president.[45] Speaking of his political viewpoints, McColl said in 2000,
I guess, by today's definition, I'm a liberal. The reason I am is, I believe that a chief guarantee of our country, of citizenship, is the right of freedom of speech, the right to be who we are.[29]
Two books have been written about McColl:
A 2008 book,Dearest Hugh:The Courtship Letters of Gabrielle Drake and Hugh Mccoll, 1900–1901 edited by Suzanne Cameron Linder Hurley, recounts via their letters the courtship of his grandparents, D.D.McColl and Gabrielle Palmer Drake McColl (1882–1964).[5] Suzanne Hurley later wrote a book detailing the journey of the McColl Clan's journey from Scotland to Marlboro County. This book took ten years to create.
The library theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's South Historical Collection maintains a collection of approximately 8,600 McColl family papers.[5] The South Caroliniana Library[46] at theUniversity of South Carolina maintains the Duncan Donald McColl Papers.[5]
On Oct. 3, 1959,[3] McColl married Jane Bratton Spratt McColl ofYork, South Carolina — daughter of a banker[13] and sister of former CongressmanJohn Spratt (D-SC). They have three children, Hugh Leon McColl III (1960- ), John Spratt McColl (1963- ), and Jane Bratton McColl Lockwood (1967- )[5] and eight grandchildren.[27]
McColl is member ofAugusta National Golf Club.[47] In 2005 McColl, an avidquail hunter, leased 60,000 acres (240 km2) of theKenedy Ranch, aTexas Longhorn-cattle ranch in theFalfurrias ranch area[48] of Kenedy County, Texas.[24][49]
In 2010,UNC-TV conducted a series of interviews with McColl, titledBiographical Conversations with Hugh Leon McColl Jr., to air in three segments.[50]
McColl entered the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 1990,[13] in 1997 he was voted Tarheel of the Year,[3] in 2005 he entered the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame, and in 2007, entered theJunior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. McColl was named "Family Champion" byWorking Mother magazine (1993), he earned the Pioneer Award from the Organization for a New Equality (1996) and won the Applause Award from Women's Business Enterprise National Council (2001).[27] In 2005, McColl won theEcho FoundationAward Against Indifference,[51] founded in 1997 to carry the message ofNobel Peace Prize winnerElie Wiesel — a call to action for human dignity, justice and moral courage.[51] In 2008, McColl was named South Texan of the Year,[52] and in 2009, McColl received the North Carolina Award for public service.[53]
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| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by Company formed from merger of Nationsbank (CEO since 1983) and BankAmerica | Bank of America CEO 1998-2001 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
