Cover Story for April 2003


Seeing Clearly
Sue Cole relishes being the first woman to chair 
NCCBI, but she knows that business has no gender


By Kevin Brafford

Throughout her career, Sue Cole of Greensboro has never lost sight of the big picture, and NCCBI’s new chair doesn’t plan to start now that she’s taken the helm of North Carolina’s largest business organization.

When Cole, president and CEO of U.S. Trust Co. of North Carolina, assumed leadership of the association from Jim Hyler at last month’s Annual Meeting, the passing of the gavel constituted more than just lip service being paid to tradition. When Hyler, the First Citizens chief executive, had taken over the previous March, he put in place a three-year plan designed to assure continuity and actively involve the two vice chairs.

“Jim and I sat down, along with Bill Coley (who has since retired from Duke Power and been replaced by IBM’s Barry Eveland), and looked at things from a three-year perspective,” Cole recalls. “There was nothing wrong with the ways things had been done — you can look at how successful NCCBI had been for decades and see that — but we thought that a continuing focus, rather than a stop and start every year, would better serve our members today and the future of the organization.”

NCCBI’s mission, she believes, is clear. “We are the only organization that promotes the business interests of the state. That’s a tremendous responsibility we have to our members, to work for what’s best for North Carolina as a whole.

“In these economic times,” she continues, “that doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing to do. The world has continued to get much smaller as our businesses in our state have faced global competitors, customers and suppliers. As a result, North Carolina workers have been displaced and many businesses have faced tremendous financial hardship. Workers lucky enough to find jobs may be bringing home a substantially smaller paycheck. In addition, the stock market has continued to decline, and as a result, our state’s budget as well as the taxpayer’s budget are facing very difficult times. NCCBI has an important role to play on the part of its members — to represent the long-term interests of business.”

Cole says the leadership provided by NCCBI President Phil Kirk is more vital than ever, and that his pending resignation as chair of the State Board of Education is evidence of his and NCCBI’s commitment to more than 2,000 member companies. “I’m very excited about Phil spending more time with our members,” she says. “His influence within our state is tremendous, and he has a amazing passion and work ethic for what he does.”

The same passion and work ethic can be found in Cole, attributes that have been tantamount to her success at U.S. Trust. “My business is taking care of clients, and it’s not something I take lightly,” she says. “Our clients are entrusting us not just for their financial assets but for their family’s future. It’s a fiduciary responsibility, one in which they trust that we’re going to do what’s best for them.”

She believes the same principles apply to members of NCCBI. “I believe the role of a board of directors, its executive committee and its chair is to set the strategic direction for its organization. That may mean repositioning, refining or maintaining — it’s not necessarily coming in and doing everything different, but rather building on the assets of the organization and making changes as appropriate. That’s why this rolling three-year cycle is important.”

While strides have been made in the past year, Hyler realizes that Cole faces many challenges. “It’s a pivotal time for the business climate in our state,” he says. “The budget crisis and the economy both need critical attention. Sue has great leadership skills and is committed to getting the job done. I think she’ll have a very successful year.”

Kirk agrees. “From the moment she became our second vice chair and membership campaign chair, she has always stressed strong member relations. She reminds staff that we are here to serve our customers to the best of our abilities. Sue’s guidance has been strong on emphasizing the concerns of our members and how we may most effectively and efficiently meet them. She is a dynamic, focused leader.”

Cole believes the progressive business nature of North Carolina as a state has paid tremendous dividends in the past and should continue to be a strength. “Our state has had a wonderful strategic vision,” she says. “If you think about the people who developed the concept of Research Triangle Park, not to mention the University of North Carolina system, you realize how great past leadership has been.

“At this point, we have to recognize what we’re really good at. Tourism is something that we’ve made a concentrated effort to develop in the past decade, and it should continue to grow. Our higher education system is unsurpassed and is one reason why companies want to move here. Technology and biotech are extremely important to our state. North Carolinians have always been known for a strong work ethic — that is something that we can build on as we retrain workers for new jobs that could come to the state.

“The creation of jobs is one of our biggest challenges, yet we have all of the components in place to do that. With our location, our climate and our educational system, we have the ability to create an environment where people not only want to work but to live, to raise families, to send their children to college. Studies show that executives will locate their businesses where they want to live, and we have much to offer.”

Cole notes that NCCBI members have plenty to offer as well, and she is anxious to receive their input. “One of this association’s greatest strengths is the makeup of the membership,” she says. “We’ve got big businesses, we’ve got small businesses, we’ve got startups, we’ve got the service industry, we’ve got educational institutions. It’s wonderfully diverse, which means that there are so many voices out there with important things to say.

“That also brings additional challenges when it relates to our lobbyists and legislators. In many instances, it may mean that we’ll have to be focused on the broad business scope. We can’t be all things to all people. Try as we might, we cannot represent every single issue full-bore, and that’s a test for both the organization and staff. What we have to do is to make sure that what we’re doing represents what’s best for business in this state as a whole.”

The bottom line? “We want to listen to the needs of our membership, and then educate and inform them as to what we can and cannot do,” she says. “An educated and informed member is a good member.”

Sue Woodall Cole grew up in a working class family in Garner, at the time a small community still quite distant from Raleigh. Her work ethic was established early — by age 12 she was earning spending money mowing lawns and baby-sitting neighborhood children. Within months after getting her driver’s license, she was working various retail jobs.

The income helped pay for her education at N.C. State University, where she majored in business. There, she fell in love with Gordon Cole, one year her senior. The two met in a bowling class in the second quarter of her first semester. “I got to class after he did and he had to move his coat so I could have a place to sit down,” she remembers.

“She took a seat behind me,” he recalls. “At first I kind of rolled my eyes — or at least that’s what she says I did. But I sure did like what I saw. I remember pretty soon after that walking her to her car after class and asking her out.”

It didn’t take long before they were dating, although finding time for each other sometimes had its challenges. “She had classes and she was working, too,” Gordon says. “She worked at an upscale women’s clothing score at Cameron Village. She was unique in that way — you didn’t find too many girls back then who held a part-time job on a full-time basis. She was that determined, that driven, even then.”

The two married following Sue’s sophomore year. “It’s not something I’d generally recommend,” she says of getting married at such a young age, “but one of the reasons it worked out is that we agreed up front that we would both complete our education. We did that and we’ve never looked back.”

Gordon graduated a year later and landed a job in Greensboro, leading Sue to transfer to UNCG, where she graduated the following spring with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics.

Just out of college, she took a job in the credit department at Guilford Mills, but after only nine months there she jumped at the chance to join what was then North Carolina National Bank (NCNB, and now Bank of America), where she began as a management trainee credit analyst. “I enjoyed reading all the reports on companies and learning about their products,” she says. “And I enjoyed figuring out whether they would be good risks for the bank. I knew then that I had found a career.”

It wasn’t long before Cole was promoted to commercial loan officer, a post she held for six years before being named manager of all NCNB branches in Greensboro in 1981. Three years earlier, she had added motherhood to her list of responsibilities with the birth of Adrienne. A second daughter, Suzanne, was born in 1982.

Within a few years she was back in lending, this time as head of the bank’s local corporate lending operations. Leveraged buyouts were the rage in the early 1980s and Cole was in the middle of some of the most talked about deals in Guilford County. “Some worked out and some didn’t,” she says. “It was definitely an exciting time.”

In 1987, Cole’s success caught the eye of an entrepreneur named Stephen C. Hassenfelt, who three years earlier had started North Carolina Trust, an unusual bank for its time in that, while state chartered, it didn’t accept deposits or make loans. Instead, N.C. Trust specialized in asset management and fiduciary services and made its profits primarily from client fees.

Hassenfelt convinced Cole to leave the security of a big bank, offering her the position of executive vice president for corporate management and strategic planning, sales and marketing — plus a spot on the company’s board. “It was an opportunity to have a significant impact on growing a company and playing an important role in the lives of clients, to be entrusted with their future,” she says. “I saw great potential there.”

Right: Cole chats with an employee at N.C. Trust's Greensboro offices. 

Neither Cole nor the company has disappointed. The financial institution’s assets continued to grow — by 1999 they had approached $2.5 billion. New York-based U.S. Trust, a national corporation with more than $79 billion in assets under management, took notice and acquired N.C. Trust. Today, U.S. Trust Company of North Carolina, with Cole as its CEO, has offices in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh and maintains about 750 client relationships in both Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Assets under administration exceed $3.4 billion.

That Cole is the first woman to chair NCCBI in its 61-year history is a distinction not lost on her. Then again, she’s been breaking through glass ceilings for nearly three decades, and her number of career “firsts” probably exceeds that of Annika Sorenstam.

“The image of North Carolina — and thus NCCBI — over the years has been that of a more conservative, white-male environment,” she says. “NCCBI has, and should, reflect the business community at large. Today, the number of female lawyers, doctors, professionals, business owners, board members and management trainees — they’re all rising. NCCBI’s membership reflects that and will continue to do so, and thus the association’s leadership is following suit.”

In short, she refuses to get caught up in setting gender precedents. “You wear a tie, I wear high heels,” she is fond of saying. “I contend that both are pretty uncomfortable and inconvenient.

“I like being a woman,” she continues. “I like being a mother, and I like being a wife. I feel very lucky to have those dimensions in my life. I don’t get focused on this ‘first’ stuff, because I think there’s too much at stake. I just want to make sure that I do a good job so I will not be the last woman in this role!”

Gordon Cole, a real estate appraiser who has proudly watched his wife’s ascent firsthand over the past 33 years while also being privy to the numerous challenges she’s faced, says Sue won’t allow herself to fail. “You look at everything she’s done and you see the work ethic, the commitment,” he says. “She was able to advance a career while seeing to the raising of two daughters. There were soccer games, school functions, driving the girls here and there. She never missed a beat, either at the office or at home.”

She still doesn’t. When her schedule permits, she works out many mornings with a personal trainer at 6 a.m. She diligently walks four miles three or four times a week. An avid reader, she belongs to a monthly book club and, as is her wont, fiercely completes her “book assignment.”

Patience, she admits, isn’t her strongest virtue. “A big resource to me is time, so I don’t like waiting,” she says. “And I don’t mind detail, but I don’t like repetition. I even like taking different routes on my drive to work, just to shake things up.”

With one daughter in graduate school in Florida and one studying business in Washington, Cole has more time to spend mothering the 65 rose bushes and an herb garden that adorn the backyard. “I love gardening and being outdoors,” she says. “That’s my hobby, a time when I can really get away from things. 

Gordon likes it, too. “I’m the only husband I know who doesn’t have to buy his wife roses for special occasions.”

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