Kelly King is a Senior Advisor to KSK Investors, an investment firm focused on the financial sector. He also serves as the chair of the NCInnovation Board of Directors and High Point University’s National Leadership Advisory Council. Kelly retired in 2021 as CEO and Executive Chairman (2022) of Truist Financial Corporation, which was formed from the 2019 merger between Branch Banking and Trust (“BB&T”) and SunTrust Bank. Before his role as CEO and Executive Chairman at Truist, Kelly was CEO of BB&T from 2009 and Chairman in 2010. Kelly retired in March 2022.

During his 49-year career with Truist and BB&T, King served in many leadership roles, including 35 years as part of the executive leadership team. Kelly was the American Banker of the year in 2015. Inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2018 and North Carolina Banking Hall of Fame in 2021. He was Charlotte Business Journal’s Businessperson of the year in 2021.

Kelly has served as a board member for BEST NC, The Clearing House, Foundation for the Carolinas, Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, and the Bank Policy Institute (BPI). He is also a member of the National Leadership Advisory Council for High Point University. Other board positions include the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve System from 2013 to 2016 and as a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from 2009 to 2012.

Kelly served as Chairman of the North Carolina Bankers Association Board, Chairman of the North Carolina Rural Economic Center, Chairman of the North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center, Chairman of the Forsyth County United Way Tocqueville Leadership Society, Chairman of East Carolina University’s Board of Visitors and Chairman of the Board of the Piedmont Triad Partnership and a former vice-chairman of the American Bankers Council.

A North Carolina native, Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and MBA from East Carolina University. He graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, where his thesis on leadership became known as the Truist Leadership Model.