COMPANIES The director guiding the search for Bank of America’s next chief executive came close to losing his board seat last year after questioning the Merrill Lynch acquisition, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Chad Gifford, former chief executive of Fleet Financial, the bank acquired by BofA in 2004, was a voice of dissent at a board meeting in September 2008 when Ken Lewis, BofA chief executive, said the bank would buy Merrill Lynch, according to testimony given by Mr Gifford before a House committee.
