Richard M. Adams, Chairman of the Board of United Bankshares, Inc., announced that the Board of Directors of its subsidiary, United Bank, has elected Lawrence K. Doll as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Doll, who is President of The Lawrence Doll Company, had served as Vice Chairman of the Board for George Mason Bankshares prior to its acquisition by United Bankshares in 1998.

"We are very pleased to welcome Lawrence Doll to the United Bank Board," said Adams. "He has distinguished himself as an outstanding leader in the local business community, and we will benefit from his business expertise and knowledge of the Washington, DC marketplace. His renewed participation in his new role as Chairman will help us achieve our goal of making United Bank an even larger banking force in the region."

A former Marine and a decorated Vietnam veteran, Mr. Doll attended Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He entered the real estate industry in 1980 with the founding of his company, which specializes in land development. In 1995, he formed Lawrence Doll Homes, LLC, a builder of upscale homes and townhouses. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of George Mason University Foundation, Inc.; a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Maryland's Education Foundation; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges; and an active participant in several other civic, charitable and business organizations.

United Bankshares, with $5.1 billion in assets, has 78 full-service offices in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Washington, D.C. United Bankshares stock is traded on the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Quotation System) National Market System under the quotation symbol "UBSI".