Ken Lewis (executive)
| Ken Lewis | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
April 9, 1947 Meridian, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Georgia State University (BA) |
| Occupation | Former CEO, President, and Chairman of Bank of America |
| Salary | $20,404,009 (2007) |
| Spouse(s) | Donna Lewis |
Kenneth D. "Ken" Lewis (born April 9, 1947) is the former CEO, president, and chairman of Bank of America, the second largest bank in the United States and twelfth largest by total asset in the world. While CEO of Bank of America, Lewis was noted for purchasing Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch resulting in large losses for the bank and necessitating financial assistance from the federal government. On September 30, 2009 Bank of America confirmed that Ken Lewis would be retiring by the end of the year. Lewis was replaced by Brian Moynihan as president and CEO and Walter Massey as chairman of the board.
Lewis grew up in Walnut Grove, Mississippi until age 5, then moved to Heidelberg, Germany. His father was in the Army. He is a graduate of Georgia State University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in finance from J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Lewis joined North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) as a credit analyst in 1969, and served as the head of both international and domestic operations when it became NationsBank, which would eventually become Bank of America.
Lewis became CEO, president and chairman of Bank of America after the retirement of Hugh McColl in 2001. In November 2008, while still CEO of Bank of America, a time when BoA had had to borrow $86 billion from the Fed, Lewis wrote to shareholders saying that he was at the helm of "one of the strongest and most stable banks in the world".
Lewis was named Banker of the Year in 2001, and was the same year honored as Top Chief Executive Officer, according to US Banker. In 2007, Lewis was listed among the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time Magazine. He was again named Banker of the Year in 2008.
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