Barry Eichelberger has made a career change.

Eichelberger, formerly Wilmington-based market president for Wells Fargo, has taken a position with BB&T as a business service officer and senior vice president in commercial lending. The appointment was announced by BB&T market president Charlie Mattox earlier this month.

“We are very excited that Barry has joined us,” Mattox said Monday by telephone, echoing the comments he made in a bank news release. “He is a talented banker whose experience will be of great value to our clients and our bank for years to come.”

Mattox said that BB&T sees great prospects for a continued strong presence in the Wilmington market. While the Winston-Salem-based bank announced in September that it planned to close 140 branches within its multi-state network, Mattox said he knows of no plans to decrease BB&T’s footprint in the Wilmington market.

In his new role, Eichelberger will be directly responsible for “identifying, developing, managing, and expanding commercial banking relationships in the Greater Wilmington Area,” according to the release.

A graduate of Shepherd University, Eichelberger has held various leadership roles at Wachovia and then at Wells Fargo in both retail and commercial banking since beginning his career in 1998, the release stated. 

“We wish Barry the best in his new role,” Wells Fargo spokesman Josh Dunn said in an email Monday. “Randy Tomsic has again taken on the role of market president, which Barry used to fill, in addition to his role with our Business Banking team.”

On that team, Tomsic is business banking manager for the Wilmington market.