John A. Allison IV
| John A. Allison IV | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 14, 1948 Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A., 1971); Fuqua School of Business (MBA, 1974) |
| Occupation | businessman |
| Employer | Cato Institute (2012–present); BB&T (1971–2010) |
John A. Allison IV (born August 14, 1948) is an American businessman and the former CEO and president of the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.. Allison held a number of leadership positions in BB&T Corp. from 1987 until 2010 when he retired. He now serves as a director at Moelis & Company.
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Early life and education
John Allison grew up outside Charlotte, North Carolina.[1] He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in business administration in 1971.[2] He received a Master of Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business in 1974.[2]
Career at BB&T
Allison began his career with BB&T in 1971.[2] While CEO of BB&T (Branch Banking & Trust) in 2008, Allison earned a total compensation of $4,690,974, which included a base salary of $993,675, a cash bonus of $1,504,303, stocks granted of $995,089, and options granted of $973,800.[3] He retired at the end of 2008 as CEO of BB&T, handing over day to day control of operations to former COO, Kelly King, who assumed the CEO role on January 1, 2009. In 2008, Allison was nominated by Morningstar as one of the best CEOs of 2008.
Ideological activism
Allison is a major contributor to the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) and assigned Rand's Atlas Shrugged to all of his senior executives.[4] Calling Atlas Shrugged "the best defense of capitalism ever written", Allison has seen to it that "the BB&T Charitable Foundation has given 25 colleges and universities several million dollars to start programs devoted to the study of Rand's books and economic philosophy".[5][6]
In June 2012, he was designated to replace Ed Crane as CEO and president of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.[7]
Allison is a staunch opponent of the Federal Reserve, and emphasizes its role in business cycles.[8]
Allison penned the introduction to Why Businessmen Need Philosophy: The Capitalist's Guide to the Ideas Behind Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, published in 2011.[9] In September 2012, Allison released his own book, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism is the World Economy’s Only Hope.[10] Reviews of the book were strong, albeit not by ideological opponents.[11][12] In October 2014, his second book, The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,[13] was published.
Awards
He received an honorary doctorate from East Carolina University and an honorary doctorate from Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, Guatemala.[14]
Positions served
He serves on the board of visitors of both the Fuqua School of Business and the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
References
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- ↑ 2008 CEO Compensation for John A. Allison IV, Equilar.com
- ↑ Andrew Martin, Give BB&T Liberty, but Not a Bailout, The New York Times, August 1, 2009
- ↑ "Ayn Rand Studies on Campus, Courtesy of BB&T," NPR News, by Clark Davis
- ↑ Martin Morse Wooster, Games Universities Play: And How Donors Can Avoid Them, Pope Center, September 12, 2011, p. 18
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- ↑ http://bigthink.com/ideas/17844
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- ↑ https://www.ufm.edu/index.php/Doctorados_Honoris_Causa
External links
- Allison's bio at the Cato Institute
- Arnold Kling, review of The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure, Reason Papers vol. 34, no. 2 (October 2012), pp. 229–33
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- Appearances on C-SPAN
- John A. Allison at Goodreads
- Articles with hCards
- 1948 births
- Living people
- American chief executives
- American classical liberals
- American financial businesspeople
- American financial writers
- American libertarians
- Cato Institute people
- East Carolina University alumni
- Fuqua School of Business alumni
- Objectivists
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
- Wake Forest University faculty
