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Public: Recent News

John Medlin accepts certificate from Janet Ward Black.

The Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association, convening for its quarterly meeting Thursday at the N.C. Bar Center, honored John G. Medlin Jr. of Winston-Salem during a special recognition luncheon.

Medlin, who gained worldwide business prominence as the driving force behind the emergence of Wachovia Corp. as one of the nation’s largest financial institutions, is revered in legal circles for his service as chair of the Commission on the Future of Courts and Justice in North Carolina.

The recognition luncheon traditionally highlights the NCBA’s winter meeting. Recent honorees include U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, AOC Director Ralph Walker and ABA President A.P. Carlton.

Attorney General Roy Cooper

NCBA President Janet Ward Black and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper shared the honors of recognizing Medlin, who was joined by his wife, Polly, and a host of colleagues and friends. Cooper served on the Futures Commission with Medlin as a member of the General Assembly.

Black presented Medlin a certificate of recognition “for outstanding contributions to the administration of justice in North Carolina” and a Bill Mangum print, “Winter’s Welcome,” personally inscribed by the artist.

The Futures Commission, a 27-member bipartisan panel of business, legal and community leaders, was appointed by Chief Justice James Exum in 1994 to develop specific recommendations for improvement of the justice system. NCBA Past-President Rhoda Billings served as vice chair of the commission, which delivered its final report to the N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals on Dec. 5, 1996.

Medlin was born in 1933 and grew up on a farm near Benson. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1956. Following service in the U.S. Navy, he went to work for Wachovia in 1959.

At the age of 40, Medlin became president of Wachovia and in 1977 was named chief executive officer, a position he held until 1993. He served as non-executive chairman of the board from 1994-98 and retired from the board in April 2000.

Medlin’s extensive record of board service includes Wake Forest University, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Burlington Industries, the Duke Endowment, National Humanities Center, BellSouth Corp., Media General, Inc., and U.S. Airways Group.

A 1995 inductee into the N.C. Business Hall of Fame, Medlin was honored in 1998 as the recipient of the Distinguished Citizens Award from the N.C. Citizens for Business & Industry.

Medlin maintains his connections to the legal community in general and the NCBA in particular as a member of the Judicial Independence Committee.