‘Principled Leadership’ the Focus of Wilson Lecture in Business Economics

John Allison, former chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, to speak at The College of Wooster on March 2

WOOSTER, Ohio — John Allison, former chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, will present “Principled Leadership” at the James R. Wilson Lecture in Business Economics on Wednesday, March 2, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.).

“In a time of financial turmoil, the financial holding company, BB&T Corporation, was thriving and growing,” said John Sell, the James R. Wilson Professor of Business Economics at Wooster. “John Allison attributes the success to principled leadership that empowered employees to facilitate clients’ success, rather than change with financial fads.”

Named by Harvard Business Review as one of the Top 100 CEOs in the world, Allison presided over BB&T’s transformation from a North Carolina farm bank to one of the nation’s highest-performing and largest financial service companies. The bank climbed to that ranking through Allison’s leadership in such areas as client services, credit quality, capital strength, fee-income generation, and operating efficiency. Assets increased from $275 million in 1971, when Allison’s career began, to $136.5 billion when he retired, and his work in arranging a merger with the former Southern National Corporation in 1995 served as the catalyst for an unprecedented 10-year growth spurt.

Allison graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in business administration and an MBA from Duke University. He also earned a degree at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. In addition, he is a board member at the Faqua School of Business at the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest University Medical Center, and the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He is also a trustee of Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and a member of the American Bankers Association as well as the Financial Services Round Table.

The James R. Wilson Lecture Series in Business Economics brings business and financial leaders to Wooster’s campus to share their insights with students, faculty, and the broader community. The series is supported by the James R. Wilson Fund for Business Economics, established in 2001 by a gift from James R. and Linda R. Wilson. Previous speakers have included Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment; Donald Kohn of the U.S. Federal Reserve System; Katharine Lee Reid, former director of The Cleveland Museum of Art; James W. Griffith, CEO of Timken Corporation, and Craig R. Barrett, former Chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation.

For more information about the lecture, call 330-263-2581.