Charles Michael Cawley (August 15, 1940 – November 18, 2015) was a businessman and founding member of the bank

MBNA MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006. History The former Maryland National ...

. Born in Massachusetts, he was raised in New Jersey, was educated at

Saint Benedict's Preparatory School St. Benedict's Preparatory School is a Catholic college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey run by the Benedictines. The school serves boys and girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade on a urban campus. The school has been accredit ...

and was a graduate of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. He created MBNA in 1982, and it was acquired by

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

in 2006.

MBNA

In 1982, Cawley and a small team started what was then called the Maryland Bank National Association, spun off from Maryland National Bank and operating out of a converted A&P supermarket in Ogletown, Delaware. The next year, Cawley began upon the concept of

affinity credit card An affinity credit card program allows an organization to offer its members and supporters—those who have an "affinity" for that organization—a credit card branded with the organization's brand and imagery. An affinity credit card program may pa ...

s when he persuaded the

alumni association to sponsor a credit card for its members. MBNA went public in January 1991. Cawley focused on the operations side of the company while Alfred Lerner, the chairman and CEO, managed the company's finances. In 1997, the company hired Kroll, Inc. as an outside investigator to investigate work paid for by the company at two of Cawley's homes, which included the construction of a 16-car garage to showcase some of his classic cars, but ultimately reported no wrongdoing. Friction started a board of directors' meeting in January 2002, when the board, aware of the recent corporate scandals over executive compensation, rejected Cawley's suggestions regarding compensation. That October, Cawley was promoted to chief executive following Lerner's death, but by November, Cawley was so frustrated with the board's rejection of his demands that he decided to retire.

Post-MBNA

Cawley was honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Maine for his efforts in establishing the Northeast Regional Marketing Center in

Camden, Maine Camden is a resort town in Knox County, Maine. The population was 5,232 at the 2020 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a summer colony in the Mid-Coas ...

in the early 1990s. This marked a tie to Cawley's past, as his grandfather had once operated dress factories in Camden and nearby

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. Cawley was also familiar with the Camden area because he had spent summers nearby at his family's Lincolnville Beach estate. Cawley was inducted into the

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential learning ...

U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2005. He died at his home in Camden, Maine on November 18, 2015, at the age of 75.

Politics

Cawley made political donations to Joe Biden, George H. W. Bush and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

Philanthropy

Cawley is mentioned in ''

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace ''The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace'' is a biography by Jeff Hobbs about an intellectually brilliant young African-American man, Robert DeShaun Peace (June 25, 1980 – May 18, 2011), who left Newark, New Jersey to attend Yale University ...

'' as a significant donor to Cawley's alma mater, Saint Benedict's Preparatory School. He was so taken by Peace at an awards dinner during Peace's senior year at the school that Cawley paid for Peace's tuition to Yale, where Peace had been accepted.Hobbs, Jeff. ''The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League''. First Scribner hardcover edition. Scribner, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawley, Charles M. 1940 births 2015 deaths Georgetown University alumni Businesspeople from Maine People from Camden, Maine People from Lincolnville, Maine 20th-century American businesspeople