B of A Appoints Female NationsBank Veteran As Its First Consumer

Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday that marketing executive Amy Woods Brinkley has been promoted to the newly created position of consumer products executive.

Ms. Brinkley, 43, will report to Bank of America president Kenneth Lewis. She will be responsible for managing Bank of America card services, consumer finance, interactive banking, and the mortgage company.

In a recent interview with American Banker, Bank of America's chief executive officer, Hugh McColl, identified Ms. Brinkley as a rising star who could one day be his successor.

Her promotion triggered two other high-level appointments for women at the $614 billion-asset banking company. Barbara Desoer, 46, takes Ms. Brinkley's place as marketing executive for the nation's second-largest bank. Connie Beck, 53, succeeds Ms. Desoer as president of the Northern California banking group.

The promotion and retention of high-level female executives have been controversial issues since the former NationsBank Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., acquired San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp. last year.

Several high-ranking women left the old BankAmerica in the wake of the merger announcement. Some critics claimed at the time that female executives from BankAmerica would not feel comfortable in the merged bank's culture.

In a prepared statement, Mr. Lewis said that Ms. Brinkley, a NationsBank veteran, was instrumental in developing the company's retail strategy. She was also responsible for managing the combined company's brand integration in the months following the merger.

Ms. Desoer, a BankAmerica veteran, will relocate from San Francisco to Charlotte for her new role as marketing executive. She will also report to Mr. Lewis.

Ms. Beck, who also came from NationsBank, will report to Gene Taylor, the president of the banking company's western region. She will relocate from Dallas, where she was Texas consumer banking executive, to San Francisco.

In related moves, BankAmerica said Guy Bodine, Texas commercial executive, would succeed Ms. Beck. Deborah Cannon succeeds Mr. Bodine. She was commercial growth group executive.

All the appointments are effective immediately.

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