Insider wins CCB's race to get a head.

• Position: Selection of Ernest Roessler as CEO of CCB Financial Corp.

Deliberateness is a hallmark at Durham-based CCB Financial Corp., which waited six years after buying Charlotte's Republic Bank & Trust to change the subsidiary's name.

So the lengthy process of selecting a successor to CEO Bill Burns, who is retiring in April at age 65, wasn't so surprising. He and CCB's board set up a public succession struggle between a host of unnamed outsiders and three insiders: Scott Edwards and Richard Furr, who had worked for CCB since graduating from college, and Ernest Roessler, who came aboard in 1988 as chief financial officer. The board postponed the decision at least twice, apparently because directors couldn't agree on whom to pick.

Most inside betting was on Edwards, who has headed loan administration since 1988. But on Dec. 17, the bank announced Roessler would get the job. His work in revamping financial systems and heavy civic involvement obviously impressed the right people.

Roessler, who holds an M.B.A. from Dartmouth, worked for Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank from 1963 to 1987, when he became CFO of Lane Financial Inc., a Chicago-area bank holding company. Lane...