Dowd Ritter
C. Dowd Ritter (born August 13, 1947) was CEO of Regions Bank from 1996 to his retirement in 2010 and chair of the Birmingham Business Alliance.
Ritter graduated from Shades Valley High School and earned his bachelor's degree in economics at Birmingham-Southern College in 1969. Within weeks after graduating, he married his wife Susan and began working for the First National Bank of Birmingham. He was soon placed in the bank's management training program and later completed a course of study at the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.
Ritter worked his way up through the company and was named head of branch administration in 1978. He later headed the retail banking department and the trust division. He was made an executive vice-president in 1980 and a senior executive vice president in 1988. From there he was elected to the board of directors in 1993.
In 1994, during lunch at the Smokehouse Restaurant in North Birmingham, president and CEO John Woods tapped Ritter as his successor. He took over the bank as president on January 1, 1996 and became chairman of the board in August of the same year.
Ritter oversaw the merger of AmSouth with Regions Bank and became CEO of the combined company in 2006. The bank maintained its status as Birmingham's largest private employer and lone remaining Fortune 500 company, but share prices took a beating as the bank struggled to overcome defaulting loans and other trials during the recession of 2008. He retired on April 1, 2010 and was succeeded by Grayson Hall.
In addition to his corporate leadership, Ritter is active in civic affairs, having chaired a fundraising drive for United Way of Central Alabama and coordinating the Birmingham Festival of Arts' 1990 Salute to Australia. He is also chairman of the board of trustees for Birmingham-Southern College.
References
- Kilpatrick, Andrew (1996) A Legacy of Leadership: The History of AmSouth Bank. Birmingham: AmSouth Bank
- Hubbard, Russell (March 28, 2010) "Triumph and turmoil define Dowd Ritter's legacy as CEO of Regions." Birmingham News