G. Kennedy Thompson, also known as Ken Thompson, (born November 25, 1950) is an American banker and businessman who was chairman, president, and CEO of Wachovia Corporation, formerly First Union Corporation, from 2000 through 2008.CNN.com: Wachovia CEO out at board's request
/ref> During his leadership, Wachovia grew to become the nation's fourth largest bank.

Early life

Thompson was born in

Clarksville, Virginia Clarksville is a town in Mecklenburg county in the U.S. state of Virginia, near the southern border of the commonwealth. The population was 1,139 at the 2010 census. Since the town has numerous buildings of the 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-cent ...

and was raised in

Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 census, making it the 20th-most populous city in North Carolina at the time. The city is 45 mi (7 ...

. He was the son of Stacy Kennedy and Maynard Thompson, the manager of a textile factory. He attended the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, where he was a Morehead Scholar and a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Uni ...

fraternity. He graduated with B.A. in American Studies in 1973. He also received an MBA from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

in 1975.

Career

Starting in 1976, Thompson had a variety of positions at First Union, including manager of the New York loans office, senior vice president of human resources, vice president of Global Capital Markets, president of First Union-Florida, and president of First Union Georgia. In 2000, he became chairman, president, and CEO, replacing Edward E. Crutchfield who stepped down due to health reasons. In September 2001, Thompson brokered the merger of First Union and

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

in September 2001. First Union changed its name to Wachovia after fending off a hostile

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

attempt by

SunTrust Bank SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was ...

. He overhauled the ailing bank. In 2003, ''BusinessWeek'' named Thompson the Business Person of the Year. In 2006, under Thompson's leadership, Wachovia acquired Golden West Financial Corp. for approximately $26 billion, at the peak of the real estate market. In 2007, Thompson received a total compensation of $15,653,559, which included a base salary of $1,090,000, a cash bonus of $0, stocks granted of $12,351,369, and options granted of $1,925,933. However, Golden West mostly lent risky subprime loans. Thompson was pushed out of Wachovia on June 2, 2008, becoming one of many financial services executives who were ousted amid turmoil in the U.S. housing market. Thompson did not receive incentive pay for the 2008 fiscal year, but according to a filing with the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

, he received a severance of $1.45 million and accelerated vesting of $7.25 million in restricted stock. Thompson had served the company for 32 years. Lanty Smith replaced Thompson as interim CEO of Wachovia. On July 10, 2008

Robert K. Steel Robert King Steel (born August 3, 1951) is an American businessman, financier and government official who has served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development in the administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Under Secretary for Do ...

, the former Treasury Undersecretary and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, took over as CEO of Wachovia. However, Wachovia only survived for two more months before it was forced to merge with

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

. In 2009, Thompson became a principal of Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York Equity firm.H.P. Chairman Steps Down as 2 Resign From Board
The New York Times, 4 April 2013 In 2010, Wachovia settled out of court a case in which it allegedly laundered over $378 billion in cash and traveler's checks from Mexican drug cartels between 2004 and 2006, during Thompson's tenure as CEO. Terms of the settlement included a $110 million forfeiture and a $50 million fine.How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug cartels
The Observer, 3 April 2011

Professional affiliations

Thompson previously served as president of the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

Board's

Federal Advisory Committee The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (), is a United States federal law which governs the behavior of federal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, chartering, public involvement, and reporting. The U.S. ...

. He was chairman of

The Clearing House The Clearing House is a banking association and payments company owned by the largest commercial banks in the United States. The Clearing House is the parent organization of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., which owns and operates core ...

, the Financial Services Roundtable, the

Financial Services Forum The Financial Services Forum is an American, non-partisan economic policy and advocacy organization whose members are the chief executive officers of the eight largest and most diversified financial institutions headquartered in the United Stat ...

, and the

International Monetary Conference The international monetary conferences were a series of assemblies held in the second half of the 19th century. They were held with a view to reaching agreement on matters relating to international relationships between national currency systems. B ...

. He also served on the board of Florida Rock Industries, Insteel Industries Inc., LendingTree, and Pinnacle Financial Partners. In 2011, he joined the board of BNC Bancorp, the holding company of the Bank of North Carolina. He also served on the

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

(HP) board starting in 2006; in April 2013, he stepped down following his very narrow re-election with 55% of the shareholder vote.

Personal life

Thompson and his wife Kathylee have three children: Kenny, Scott, and Stacey. Thompson was a board member of Advantage Carolina, the Carolinas Healthcare System,

Charlotte Institute for Technology Innovation Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, the Charlotte Latin School, the

North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Blumenthal Performing Arts (also NC Blumenthal Center and NCBPAC) is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It opened in 1992 and is named in honor of the people of the state of North Carolina and the Blumenthal Foundation established by I.D. ...

, the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, Teach For America,

, and the YMCA Metropolitan board. He is also a trustee for the Morehead-Cain Foundation. He was a board member and chairman of the United Way of Central Carolinas, Inc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, G. Kennedy 1950 births Living people People from Clarksville, Virginia People from Rocky Mount, North Carolina University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Wake Forest University alumni American bankers 20th-century American businesspeople