John A. Allison IV (born August 14, 1948) is an American businessman and the former CEO and president of the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Allison held a number of leadership positions in

BB&T BB&T Corporation (previously known as the Branch Banking and Trust Company) was one of the largest banking and financial services firms in the United States, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2019, BB&T announced its intentions to merge ...

Corp. from 1987 until 2010 when he retired. He now serves as a director at

Moelis & Company Moelis & Company is a global investment bank that provides financial advisory services to corporations, governments, and financial sponsors. The firm advises on strategic decisions such as mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restruc ...

Early life and education

John Allison grew up outside

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. He graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

with a degree in business administration in 1971. He received a Master of Business Administration from the

Fuqua School of Business The Duke University Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University, a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Du ...

in 1974.

Career

Allison began his career with

in 1971. While

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of BB&T (Branch Banking & Trust) in 2008, Allison earned a total compensation of $4,690,974, which included a base salary of $993,675, a cash bonus of $1,504,303, stocks granted of $995,089, and options granted of $973,800. He retired at the end of 2008 as CEO of BB&T, handing over day to day control of operations to former COO, Kelly King, who assumed the CEO role on January 1, 2009. In 2008, Allison was nominated by Morningstar as one of the best CEOs of 2008.

Ideological activism

Allison is a major contributor to the

Ayn Rand Institute The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism, commonly known as the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank in Santa Ana, California, that promotes Objectivism, the philosophy developed by Ayn Ran ...

(ARI) and assigned Rand's ''

Atlas Shrugged ''Atlas Shrugged'' is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her ''magnum opus'' in the realm of fiction writing. She described the theme of ''Atlas ...

'' to all of his senior executives. Calling ''Atlas Shrugged'' "the best defense of capitalism ever written", Allison has seen to it that "the BB&T Charitable Foundation has given 25 colleges and universities several million dollars to start programs devoted to the study of Rand's books and economic philosophy".Ayn Rand Studies on Campus, Courtesy of BB&T
" NPR News, by Clark Davis In June 2012, he was designated to replace Ed Crane as CEO and president of the

, a

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

headquartered in Washington, D.C. He retired from Cato at the end of March 2015. He currently serves on the board of directors at Cato Institute. Allison is a staunch opponent of the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

, and emphasizes its role in business cycles. Allison penned the introduction to ''Why Businessmen Need Philosophy: The Capitalist's Guide to the Ideas Behind Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged'', published in 2011. In September 2012, Allison released his own book, ''The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism is the World Economy's Only Hope''. Reviews of the book were strong, albeit not by ideological opponents. In October 2014, his second book, ''The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness'', was published.

Awards

He received an honorary doctorate from

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

Mercer University Mercer University is a Private university, private Research university, research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the s ...

, and an honorary doctorate from

Universidad Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín University ( Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical, ...

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Positions served

He serves on the board of visitors of the

Build-A-Bear Workshop Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears, stuffed animals, and characters. During store visits, customers go through an interactive process where the stuffed animal of their ...

, Korkkuss-Neggins Business School, and the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

References

External links

Allison's bio
at the

Arnold Kling, review of ''The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure'', ''Reason Papers'' vol. 34, no. 2 (October 2012), pp. 229–233
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, John A., IV 1948 births American chief executives of financial services companies American financial writers American libertarians Cato Institute people East Carolina University alumni Fuqua School of Business alumni Living people Objectivists UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School alumni Wake Forest University faculty Ayn Rand Institute