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THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006
BUSINESS
Johnson banking on financial sennces
By Herbert L. White
tierb.while® thediarlottepost^om
Bobcats owner buys Florida trust to compete in urban areas
Charlotte Bobcats owner
Bob Johnson is expanding his
portfolio in the financial ser
vices industry
Johnson told the
Washington Post he has
bought a black-owned Florida
savings and loan and plans to
move it to Washington as the
platform for a consumer
financial services company
aimed at African Am^can
consumers. The bank, to be
renamed Urban TVust, is
Johnson’s vision of what he
hopes to build into the coim-
tr^s largest financial sravices
company that will compete
with elite companies and
attract Wall Street investors.
“Urban Trust will,..bring
more access to capital to indi
viduals and families who
need it, especially those that
need help managing then-
assets and their wealth in a
better way” Johnson told The
Washington Post. “There’s no
doubt in my mind that a well-
capitalized, well-managed
black-owned financial insti
tution wUl be wdcomed.”
Urban TVust faces a daxmt-
ing task - reversing a decade-
long drop in the number and
performance of black-owned
banks whose traditional mar
kets have been snapped up
by larger financial institu
tions. Black banks have
served African Americans
since the start of the 20th
cartury including Durham-
based Mechanics & Farmers,
which has an office in
Charlotte. But their influence
in black communities started
to wane in the 1990s when
federal regulations forced
major banks to better sa*ve
urban ne^hborhoods.
‘Tve obsaved what’s been
happening with some minori
ty banks out there,” Johnson
said “The other big banks
have gotten very a^ressive
in going after their cus
tomers. What we’re sayir^ is
that we can bring the focus
and the capital to compete
with those big
banks on the
same terms.”
Dwight L.
Bush, a former
executive at
SalLie Mae and
Chase
Manhattan
Bank, will be
Urban Trust’s
chief executive. The bank will
Johnson
See JOHNSON/8C
Moving up in the world
PHOTO/ELLISON CLARY
Claude McDougal opened his new offices of US Financial Alliance Consultants in the Ivey’s building on North Tryon Street last week.
On hand for the occasion were Ghobind “Garry” Bhojwani (left) and Raynard Harris of Wachovia. About 150 people attended the drop-
in on March 9.
BofA’s
Bessant gets
promotion
By Paul Nowell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cathy Bessant, the top marketing exenitive
for Bank of America Corp. and a key player in
Charlotte’s winning bid for the NASCAR Hah
of Fame, has been named the bank’s global
treasury services executive, succeeding Tim
Arnoult, the bank said Monday
In her new job, Bessant wiQ
have responsibility for the com- ,
pany’s global treasury and I
transaction services. I
“It’s a fine of business Fm very I
excited about,” Bessant, who I
had been the bank’s global mar- I
keting chief since 2002, said in I
an interview after the I
annoimcement. “I love driving
the organic growth of this com
pany”
Bassant
BellSouth updates severance offer to 1,300
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — BehSouth Corp.
said Monday that it was updat
ing a voluntary severance offer to
1,300 manners to bring it in line
with a plan that wih be part of its
proposed $67 biUion merger with
AT&T Inc.
BellSouth announced in
December it was cutting 1,500
management jobs, or 2.4 percent
of its total work force, because of
competition from cable providers.
Under the plan contained in a
Securities and Exchange
Commission filing on Monday
the severance offer is enhanced
and an involimtary component of
Ihe previous offer is eliminated,
BeUSouth spokesman Joe
Chandler said.
“The offer that we have now is
almost identical to the oSer that
was associated with separation
that will occur after the merger,”
Chandler said.
This one is entirely volimtary,
he said, which led to a reduction
in the estimate of the total num-
b^ of jobs to be eliminated.
Chandler said about 60 man
agement employees already had
agreed to accept the offer made in
December, and that BellSouth is
in the process of determining the
type of package they would
receive.
In its SEC filing, BeUSouth esti
mated an after-tax chatge of $100
million related to the work force
reduction, with about $85 million
recorded in the second quarter.
San Antonio-based AT&T said
after its proposed acquisition of
BellSouth was announced earlier
this month that it ratpects to cut
10,000 jobs fium the combined
320,000 it would have after the
mager, but that the goal should
be achieved through normal
employee tumover.
Amoult will retire at the end of April after a
27-year career at the nation’s second-largest
bank,
Anne Finucane will take over Bessanf s for
mer job as the bank’s global marketing and
corporate affairs executive. She wifi, retain
responsibility for corporate communications,
public policy and corporate philanthropy
Under Bessant, Bank of America expanded
its marketing portfolio by adding sponsorship '
of the Olympics and deepening its ties to
NASCAR racing, the cotmtry’s fastest-grow-
spectator sport.
“Calhy has done a tremendous job over the
past several years btdlding our company’s
brand and a world-class marketing fimction
to support aU our businesses and customers,”
Liam McGee, pr^ident of global consumer
and small-business banking for Bank of
America, said in a statement.
Bessant also played a key role in helping
Charlotte beat out four other U.S. cities to
land the coveted NASCAR Hall of Fame. The
$107.5 million haU is eqDected to lure hun
dreds of thousands of NASCAR fans annual
ly after its planned opening in 2009.
Besides offerir^ below-market loans for the
project, Bank of America and Wachovia Corp.
contributed ^ecutives, bankers and laviiyer='
to the team that developed and pitched
Charlotte’s bid for the haU, Bessant was a key
figure as head of the Charlotte Chamber of
Commerce.
“Fve pitched a lot of business before and I
realize that you win some and you lose some,”
Bessant said. “But rarely do you invest 15
months with that much intensity I think it’s
so great for Charlotte.”
Amoult, who took over the treasury job in
2004, plans to retire with his wife to his
native Tfexas, the bank said.
TUMULTUOUS SUCCESSION
Cochran law firm beset by changes and uncertainty
By Betty Pleasant
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - A
change has come over
Johnnie
Cochran’s law
firm - and not
necessarily a
change for the
better.
Longtime
attorneys and
staffers who
helped build
the Cochran legacy are gone
and have not been replaced,
and whites are occupying
leadership positions that did
not exist before he died
Cochran
March 30, 2005,
What is going on in
Cochran’s WUshire
Boulevard 10th floor suite,
and why it’s going on is a tale
of two versions: The spin
fix)m two Afiican-American
lawy^ who say they are in
charge, and the city’s blacik
firebrands and other lawyers
who have had active associa
tions with Cochran and his
band of brothas (and sis
ters) throughout most of
their careers.
Commimity activist Najee
Ali, because of the nature of
his activities, frequently
interacted with the Cochran
legal staff and was one of the
first to raise the alarm about
the changing scene in the
office.
“None of the lawyers,
clerks and secretaries I’ve
been working with aie there
anymore,” Ah said. “And
there are white people run
ning the office. I and other
black activists have stopped
referring people to the firm, ”
An attorney who was close
ly associated with Cochran
concurs with Ah’s observa
tion.
“The office doesn’t look the
same as it did when Johnnie
was ahve,” he said. “There
are a lot of changes going on
over there and they are not
occurring volimtarily People
are being forced out and the
partners over there have
gone into legal areas wh^e I
know Johnnie said he did
not want to go.”
The attorney asked to
remain anonymous becaixse,
“I don’t want to be accused of
tearing down the great work
Johnnie did,” he said. “But
all the people who Johnnie
loved and trusted and with
whom he built the practice
have been kicked out, and I
think it’s disgusting.”
AH and that attorney com
piled a list of the Black staff
members who, by their
observation, have left the
firm since Cochran’s death
fium a brain tumor at age
67. The Hst includes Jan
Bowers, the receptionist who
was with the office for 20
years; attorney Eric Ferrer,
Cochran’s managing partner
who worked with him for
more than 20 years; attorney
Shawn Chapman Holley, a
managing partner and Sonia
Davis, Cochran’s personal
assistant for more than 15
years. The status of attorney
Cameron Stewart, a
Cochran attorney for more
than 15 years, is imclear.
New people and new areas
added to the practice since
Cochran’s death are SaUi
Wri^t, the chief operating
officer, and a whole new
criminal defense division, of
which \hicent Imhoff is the
managing partner and for
which Ron MiHer is a Santa
Monica-based consultant.
Wright, Imhoff and MBJler
are white.
In an interview with
Randy McMurray the firm’s
managing partner, and
Brian Dunn, a partner - the
pair who uneqiaivocaHy
assert that they are the only
decision-makers for
Cochran’s home office - the
two were asked the where
abouts of the missing staff.
See COCHRAN/8C
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