Twenty-four years ago the Walker College of Business started a tradition of excellence, inviting prominent business leaders to campus to meet with students and share their professional experiences. The annual Harlan Boyles CEO Lecture Series has since involved more than 40 CEOs, and continues this month with Frank B. Holding Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of First Citizens Bancshares Inc. and its First Citizens Bank subsidiary.

Holding will speak at the Spring CEO Lecture, scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, at 2 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium. A reception will follow at 3:15 p.m. at the Broyhill Events Center (formerly Broyhill Inn). Both events are open to the public.

Holding was elected chairman of Raleigh-headquartered First Citizens in February 2009 and has served as chief executive officer since January 2008. He is a member of the third generation of the Holding family to lead the bank.

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ: FCNCA) is one of the largest family controlled financial services institutions in the nation and ranks as one of the top 50 banking companies in the United States with $21 billion in assets. BancShares also ranked ninth-best in the nation on a Forbes list of the 100 largest banks and thrifts in 2011. The company did not take funding from the federal government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Prior to his current duties, Holding was elected president of First Citizens in 1994, after having served in a variety of senior management positions for the bank in Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington, Swansboro and Fayetteville.

Holding currently serves as chairman of the North Carolina Chamber and is on the board of many organizations, including BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Campbell University Law School Board of Visitors, Mount Olive Pickle Company and the Institute for Defense & Business.

A native of Smithfield, Holding received a bachelor’s degree in business from UNC Chapel Hill and an MBA from The Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1898, First Citizens operates 430 branches in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

First Citizens has received multiple national awards for customer satisfaction and overall stability and security, including a five-star superior ranking by independent bank rating firm BauerFinancial Inc. and Greenwich Excellence awards for business banking services.