With the departure of Gary Forsee, who left Sprint Nextel as chairman and CEO under 
pressure from activist investors like Ralph Whitworth, James Hance Jr., was named acting non-executive chairman.
The telecom company will have plenty of financial talent at the top. Hance was former vice chairman and chief financial officer at Bank of America, where he served before retiring in 2005. He was also chair of the audit committee at Sprint. The telecom also named CFO Paul Saleh to the post of acting CEO. Perhaps, the focusing of financial talent is an indication of what the board suspects is the fix for Sprint, which has lagged other wireless carriers, such as Verizon, and AT&T. Is also likely that Hance was tapped for his experience in digesting acquisitions. A consummate deal-maker, Hance steered BofA through a series of massive mergers, including NationsBank, where he was previously CFO, and FleetBoston, on its way to becoming the largest commercial bank in the nation. Sprint has been criticized for how it has handled the marriage with Nextel, completed in 2005. Hance’s experience and leadership could help lay a path for a better integration of the company.
“It is quite an opportunity for us to have someone of Jim’s talent and stature join the Carlyle team,” David M. Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group.
Shortly after retiring from BofA in January 2006, Hance, who is currently 63 years old, joined private-equity titan The Carlyle Group as a senior adviser. In this role, he has worked to expand Carlyle’s leveraged finance business and identify attractive targets in the financial services industry. “It is quite an opportunity for us to have someone of Jim’s talent and stature join the Carlyle team,” said Carlyle managing director David M. Rubenstein upon Hance’s appointment in 2005. Given the current environment on the leverage side of the private equity equation, Carlyle’s hiring of Hance looks to be a shrewd move.
After earning his bachelor’s degree at Westminster College and an MBA from Washington University, Hance passed the CPA exam and began his career at accounting firm Pricewaterhouse, where he worked for 17 years. In 1988 he joined NCBN, the forerunner of NationsBank, which eventually merged with BofA. At one time Hance was considered a possible successor to Hugh McCall Jr., the longtime CEO of BofA. The job eventually went to Ken Lewis, head of consumer and commercial banking at the time.
Hance has sat on the board of Duke Energy since 2006, where he chairs the compensation committee, and is a member of the finance and risk management committee. He is also a board director of real estate companies Cousin Properties and Rayonier.
At Sprint, Hance will also take over the duties of lead director, formerly handled by Irvine Hockaday.