A Conversation With John Allison, the CEO Who Led BB&T Through the Financial Crisis

There are a handful of banks in the United States that have separated themselves from the competition over the past decade. One of them is BB&T (NYSE: BBT), a $221 billion bank based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

BB&T's performance through the financial crisis leaves no doubt about this. Even through the depths of the crisis, BB&T didn't record a single quarterly loss. That puts it in an exclusive club, joined by banks such as U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB), both of which have similarly proven over long periods of time to be exceptional institutions.

The person most responsible for BB&T's success over the past three decades is John Allison, who joined the bank in 1971 and served as its CEO from 1989 through 2008; he remained on the board for five more years before retiring to lead the Cato Institute.

Source: Fool.com