Hugh McColl

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Hugh McColl (born June 18, 1935) is an American banker who was a driving force behind the consolidation that characterizes the commercial banking industry today.

He was born and raised in Bennettsville, S.C., and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. McColl then joined the United States Marine Corps. After serving a tour of duty, approximately two years later, he was honorably discharged and returned to North Carolina to work for a small regional banking company in Charlotte, North Carolina as a management trainee. This company would later be known as North Carolina National Bank, and McColl would rise through the ranks to become its CEO and Chairman.

Vigorously competitive, he deployed a military approach to taking his small regional bank to eventually become, through a series of acquisitions, NationsBank, and later, Bank of America.

McColl maintained an "enemies list" in his pocket of his primary competitors, and once threatened to "launch his missiles" at an acquisition candidate to push the deal forward. This attitude was embraced by the small bank executives, who through the years proved their industry leadership. When questioned about his aggressive attitude towards competitors, McColl once remarked to a group of business students that "People say don't be edgy. I just don't know any other way."

After his retirement from the Bank of America in 2001, he partnered with other Charlotte banking executives to form McColl Partners, an investment banking firm, and in 2003, he opened McColl Fine Art, an art gallery, also in Charlotte. McColl has been a stalwart benefactor of the arts and civic causes in the Carolinas. He is an active mentor of the McColl Business School at Queens University of Charlotte.