First Citizens’ Holding receives honorary doctorate

Buies Creek, N.C.—Frank B. Holding, Jr., CEO and chairman of the board of First Citizens Bancshares, Inc. and subsidiaries First Citizens Bank and IronStone Bank, received the honorary Doctor of Laws from Campbell University on Saturday, May 15, at the graduation ceremony.

Holding, who delivered the spring commencement address, is a native of Smithfield, N.C. and serves on Campbell’s Presidential Board of Advisors. He recently served as chairman of the Capital Campaign Cabinet for the relocation of Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law to Raleigh. Campbell and the Holding family have enjoyed close ties for many years.

Holding graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in business. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance. He is a member of the third generation of Holding family members to lead the 111-year-old First Citizens Bank, working his way up through the banking institution at branches in Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington, Swansboro and Fayetteville. As chair and CEO, Holding oversees a network of 347 branch offices in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland. IronStone Bank serves clients at 55 offices in major markets throughout the Southeast, Midwest and western United States.

Active in community affairs, Holding serves on the boards of many civic and charitable organizations including Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Piedmont Natural Gas Company, the Institute for Defense & Business and Mount Olive Pickle Company, Inc. He is also the immediate past chair of the Greater Raleigh Area Chamber of Commerce.

Photo Copy: Right: Frank Holding, Jr., CEO and chairman of the board of First Citizens Bancshares, Inc. and subsidiaries First Citizens Bank and IronStone Bank, receives the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dr. Jerry M. Wallace, president of Campbell University. (Photo by Bennett Scarborough)

Bulletin: 16525

Date: May/19/10