Ex-Morehouse president named Bank of America chairman

Morehouse College president emeritus Walter E. Massey has been named chairman of Bank of America, the nation’s second largest commercial bank.

The announcement came Wednesday after shareholders voted to create an independent chairman, ousting former chair Ken Lewis and leaving him as president and chief executive officer.

Massey, 71, was president of the Atlanta-based college from August 1995 to June 2007, and was a director on the BankAmerica Corp. board from 1993 to 1998.

His ascension to Bank of America’s chair came as Lewis’ responsibilities were reduced by a slim margin by the board. The vote was 50.3 percent in favor of creating the new independent chair, with 49.7 percent opposed, bank officials said.

Massey wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Lewis, who had been the bank’s chair, president and CEO since 2001, conceded shareholder’s frustration over the company’s $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch and Co.

“Let me acknowledge that 2008 was a very difficult year for the economy, for the financial services industry and for our company in particular,” Lewis said in a statement released by the bank following Wednesday’s shareholder meeting.

“Our company’s shareholders have carried a heavy burden recently. We are doing everything within our power every day to fight through today’s adversity and drive toward tomorrow’s promise.”

Both Lewis and Massey are native Mississippians with Atlanta connections.

Massey was born in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Lewis was born in Meridian.

Lewis, 52, is a finance graduate of Georgia State University, and Massey received his bachelor’s degree in physics and math from Morehouse.

Massey formerly was on the board of directors at Delta Airlines, Motorola and BP PLC, and was named by former President George H.W. Bush as director of the National Science Foundation, an organization that led the government’s support of research and education in mathematics, science and engineering.

He recently was a member of the Gates Millennium Scholars Advisory Council and the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century.