Wachovia Corp Separates the CEO and Chairman Roles as Reform Measure

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- In a personnel change that could be imitated throughout the corporate world as a standard reform measure, especially among hard-hit financial institutions, the Charlotte, N.C., bank Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) announced on Friday that it was splitting the role of Chief Executive Officer from that of Chairman of the Board.

The bank’s new non-executive Chairman will now be Lanty Smith.

Mr. Smith has served as a director since 1987 and as lead independent director since 2000, and he is the CEO/Chairman of Tippet Capital, a merchant banking firm headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., as well as a former partner with the international law firm of Jones Day, the bank said.

"At this challenging time for the financial services industry and for Wachovia, my management team and I are pleased that Lanty agreed to assume the role and responsibilities of Chairman, freeing me to focus 100 percent of my time and attention on guiding the company through the current environment and building and delivering enhanced value for the benefit of our shareholders, customers and employees," said CEO/President and now former Chairman Ken Thompson in the bank’s statement.

The bank has several other highly experienced Directors.

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of the members of Wachovia’s Board of Directors.

The Knowledge Map shows that most of them have several connections to other corporate boards.  The most noteworthy ones are as follows:

Wachovia Director John D Baker III, the CEO/President of Florida Rock Industries Inc, also has experience serving on the boards of Vulcan Materials Co, Hughes Supply Inc, Patriot Transport Holding Inc, and Heidelberg Cement AG.

Wachovia Director Robert A Ingram, a Vice-Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, also has board room experience with Lowe’s Companies Inc, Allergan Inc, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.

And Wachovia Director Dona D Young, the CEO/President of Phoenix Companies Inc, also has board room experience with Foot Locker Inc, the Goodspeed Opera House Foundation Inc and Teledyne Isco Inc.

To view the business connections of the other Wachovia Directors, click here for an interactive and fuller version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).