Hugh McColl to be inducted into Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame

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Nancy Pierce

Hugh McColl, retired chairman and CEO of Bank of America, co-founded McColl Partners investment bank and Falfurrias Capital Partners private-equity group.

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Adam O'Daniel

Finance Editor- Charlotte Business Journal

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When you're credited with building the first coast-to-coast retail banking franchise in America, honors and awards from various business groups become par for the course.

But next week in Charlotte, Hugh McColl Jr. will be inducted into a business hall of fame that's related more to his less-recognized second act, the post-Bank of America part of his career.

McColl, 79, and three others will be inducted into the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He will be joined by O.Temple Sloan, the founder of General Parts International, and the posthumous inductions of Craig Wall Sr. and Craig Wall Jr. of Canal Industries.

For McColl, the honor salutes his work as the co-founder of his eponymous investment bank, McColl Partners, and the private-equity firm he still leads, Falfurrias Capital Partners. The two ventures have highlighted his post-Bank of America career in Charlotte.

The induction ceremony will be Nov. 20 at Quail Hollow Club.

McColl Partners was sold last year to Deloitte Corporate Finance after 12 years of serving middle-market family-owned businesses. McColl is no longer involved, though many of his partners continue to lead the firm.

Falfurrias Capital Partners continues to grow, led day-to-day by McColl's founding partner, Marc Oken. It was among the first of a wave of boutique private-investment shops to spin out of Charlotte's big banking culture. McColl struck gold with an investment in Bojangles' Restaurants Inc. out of Falfurrias' first fund, later selling it at a large multiple to a bigger investor.

The Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame is a function of Queens University of Charlotte's McColl School of Business, named in honor of the banker. Laureates must display a 10-year track record of leadership in the business they founded and show a positive impact on communities in the Carolinas.

"I want people to remember that I made a difference," McColl said in an interview last year about his business legacy. "That I tried to make everything I touched better."

Adam O'Daniel covers banking, entrepreneurs and technology for the Charlotte Business Journal.