The Battle of North versus South, All Over Again

Bank of America, with a current headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., may soon be run by a Northerner.

Three of the six directors on the steering committee that is conducting the search for the bank’s next chief executive, as a result Ken Lewis's retirement, come from New England.

Bank of America chairman emeritus Chad Gifford, CVS Caremark Corp. chief Tom Ryan, and NStar CEO Tom May, all northeners - are all board holdovers from the 2004 acquisition by B of A of FleetBoston Financial Group.

The Boston influence is not going over well in Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer headlined one story, Boston accents BofA search group, and reported:

The six-member board committee searching for Bank of America Corp.'s next chief executive includes three former FleetBoston Financial Corp. directors, perhaps giving an edge to Boston-based consumer banking executive Brian Moynihan...In an interview Friday, the bank's largest individual shareholder, Charlotte business executive C.D. Spangler,[when] Asked whether the choice could affect the bank's Charlotte headquarters status, he said "it's an issue you should be sensitive about," but he added the most important thrust for the bank now should be producing profits.

Will this year be the year the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Bank of America, all bring trophies to Boston?