A Raleigh businessman who recently left the board of Bank of America said the bank should pick an internal candidate to succeed CEO Ken Lewis, Bloomberg News reported.

Former lead director Temple Sloan told Bloomberg he doesn't want Bank of America to pick an outsider with limited understanding of the biggest U.S. bank's operations and strategy.

“I get tired of hearing we didn’t have a succession plan,” said Sloan, chairman of Raleigh-based General Parts Co., owner of the Carquest auto parts chain. “I had the list and we discussed it every month. There has always been a succession plan. You can’t run a company the size of Bank of America without a plan.”

Sloan, 70, a Duke University alumnus, also is founder and chairman of Highwoods Properties, the Raleigh-based real estate developer.