BB&T CEO Allison to retire this year

John A. Allison, who has run BB&T Corp. for nearly 20 years, will retire as the Winston-Salem bank’s chief executive officer at the end of the year.

The bank will promote chief operating officer Kelly S. King, 59. King joined BB&T in 1972 and has been part of the bank’s executive team since 1983.

“This is the next-to-last step in a systematic succession plan we’ve had in place for some time now,” said Allison, 60, in a prepared statement. “Nearly 20 years is certainly a long time for anyone to serve as CEO.”

Allison, who has been CEO since 1989, will remain chairman until the end of 2009. Allison has helped the bank expand through 60 acquisitions. BB&T now has 1,489 branches in 12 states with $136.5 billion in assets.

Allison, a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University, is a avid reader and a fan of Ayn Rand, the Russian-American philosopher and advocate of capitalism.

In retirement, Allison plans to write books about the role of values in effective leadership and the evolution of the U.S. financial system. He also plans to work with colleges participating in BB&T’s Moral Foundations of Capitalism program, which provides grants for the study of “the moral and intellectual underpinnings of capitalism and free enterprise.”

King is a Raleigh native and graduate of East Carolina University.

BB&T fell 62 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $27.59 in morning trading. The company’s shares have dropped 10 percent this year.