Kelly King

About

Kelly S. King (born September 12, 1948) is a retired American banking executive who served as Chairman and CEO of Truist Financial, formed through the 2019 merger of BB&T and SunTrust Banks. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation from 2009 to 2019. Over a 49-year career with BB&T and Truist, King held numerous leadership roles and is credited with guiding BB&T through the 2008 financial crisis and orchestrating one of the largest bank mergers in American history.

King was born on September 12, 1948, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He grew up in a family of modest means, working on his family’s tobacco farm in Zebulon, east of Raleigh, during his childhood. During high school, he worked as a salesman selling clothing and vacuums.
King earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He subsequently attended the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, where his thesis on leadership later became known as the Truist Leadership Model.

King joined BB&T’s Management Development…