UNC Charlotte named its Master of Business Administration program after longtime financial services executive Joe Price, an esteemed Charlotte civic leader.
The JL Price MBA Program has been rated as the best part-time MBA program in North Carolina by U.S. News & World Report, and 49th nationally in its best graduate schools ranking.
The naming follows many years of support for UNC Charlotte by Price and his wife, Christine. At a reception Thursday to celebrate the naming, Price said UNC Charlotte put him on a path to success. “Staying involved is both a thank you to my alma mater and a way to be part of a university that can provide that same pathway for others,” he said.
Previous philanthropic commitments from Price have supported the Belk College of Business, student mental health services and athletics. He served from 2007 to 2019 on the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees, including as chair from 2016 to 2019.
He is a former chair of Habitat for Humanity’s worldwide board of directors.
The Prices embody “what it means to invest in the full student experience,” UNC Charlotte Chancellor Sharon Gaber said. “Through their combined leadership, philanthropy and belief in UNC Charlotte’s mission, they have strengthened academic excellence, student well-being and campus life.”
At the event, former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl praised Price as “smarter than all get out.” McColl assigned Price to key early executive posts at BofA’s, starting a rise to the chief financial officer job. Price is famous for speaking softly in a way that drew respect, McColl said. “The more important it is, the quieter he speaks.”
Price graduated with an accounting degree in 1983, after attending East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte. He worked for the Price Waterhouse CPA firm, then joined Bank of America’s predecessor company. He rose to become president of consumer and small business banking, CFO and global corporate and investment banking risk management executive.
Price was considered a potential CEO candidate before the BofA board picked Brian Moynihan in 2010 to lead the nation’s second-largest bank. He left the bank in 2011.
Price is a partner at Falfurrrias Management Partners, a Charlotte private-equity firm formed by former BofA colleagues McColl and Marc Oken. Price joined the group full-time with the launch of its $500 million Fund IV in 2019. He is a board member of 13 companies in which Falfurrias has invested, according to the company’s website.
McColl joked that Price has thrived financially since joining Falfurrias because of private equity’s benefits of “using other people’s money to make money for themselves.” He praised Price’s long-term commitment to improving the Queen City.
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