B of A’s Outgoing Chairman Is Hardly the Retiring Type

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America Corp. chairman and chief executive Hugh L. McColl Jr. may be stepping down at the company’s annual meeting next month, but don’t expect him to disappear.

The 65-year-old has started lining up post-retirement assignments, including a possible seat on the board of an Atlanta real estate developer with close ties to Bank of America, Cousins Properties Inc.

Cousins has nominated Mr. McColl for a board seat along with another notable candidate, John J. Mack, who recently quit as president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

Cousins’ shareholders are to vote on both nominations at the developer’s annual meeting in May.

Mr. McColl will also be a consultant at Bank of America and an “ambassador for the corporation,” the Charlotte company said in its annual proxy statement last week. He will not be paid but will get an office, an assistant, and use of the company jet under a renewable five-year contract.

Cousins Properties and Mr. McColl are no strangers. The developer’s CEO, Thomas Cousins, was a board member at Bank of America’s predecessor, NationsBank. And over the past two years Bank of America and Cousins Properties have been co-developing Gateway Village, a $350 million office and residential project in downtown Charlotte. Cousins also developed B of A’s Atlanta office tower.

Mr. McColl is also on the boards of Ruddick Corp. and Sonoco Products and will keep both those seats for the time being. Ruddick, of Charlotte, owns the grocery chain Harris Teeter and the textile maker American & Efird; Sonoco Products is a packaging manufacturer with headquarters in South Carolina.

Cousins Properties officials and Mr. McColl, who will be succeeded at Bank of America by Kenneth D. Lewis, did not return calls for this article. In a press statement announcing the nominations of Mr. McColl and Mr. Mack, Mr. Cousins said, “As leaders of two of the largest and most successful financial services companies in the world, John Mack and Hugh McColl have the expertise and proven track records to make invaluable contributions to our company.”