[1/2] Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman is interviewed by Reuters U.S.Finance editor Lananh Nguyen in the course of the Reuters NEXT Newsmaker occasion in New York Metropolis, New York, U.S., December 1, 2022….
NEW YORK, Might 19 (Reuters) – When James Gorman made one of many greatest bulletins of his profession on Friday — that he could be stepping down as Morgan Stanley CEO inside a yr — he nonetheless managed to crack a joke.
“A problem of paramount significance to shareholders, workers and purchasers is, in fact, succession — and no, I am not simply speaking in regards to the TV collection,” Gorman informed shareholders on the firm’s digital annual assembly.
“And I positively don’t have any plans to exit like Logan Roy,” he stated, referring to the lead character within the HBO tv present in regards to the household of a media tycoon. Within the present, Roy dies as CEO of the corporate, with out having chosen a successor.
Gorman, 64, has led the Wall Road funding financial institution since 2010 and remodeled it by means of a collection of main offers. Below his management, Morgan Stanley turned a wealth administration powerhouse that goals to handle $10 trillion in property.
Morgan Stanley purchased cash supervisor Eaton Vance, on-line dealer E*Commerce, and stock-plan supervisor Solium Capital beneath Gorman’s management. He was additionally the important thing architect behind Morgan Stanley’s buy of Smith Barney, a brokerage and funding adviser, in 2009.
The acquisitions have made Morgan Stanley’s U.S. wealth enterprise an “asset gathering monster,” and a “killer machine,” he stated on an earnings convention name final month. The agency’s emphasis on serving rich purchasers decreased its reliance on extra unstable companies like funding banking and buying and selling.
Recognized for his sharp analytical thoughts and blunt communication, Gorman opinions the financial institution’s each day profit-and-loss accounts and writes down key numbers each night time earlier than he goes to mattress, he informed The Australian Monetary Assessment final yr.
“LONG JOURNEY”
The manager, a music fan additionally identified for his dry humorousness, grew up in Australia, one among 10 youngsters. He earned bachelor’s and regulation levels from the College of Melbourne and an M.B.A. from Columbia College. He finally turned a U.S. citizen.
“I’m additionally an immigrant, coming from Australia, and let me inform you, it’s a lengthy journey from Melbourne to New York, and I’m very proud that I made it and I’m now a citizen of this nice nation,” Gorman informed the Home Monetary Companies Committee in 2021.
He began his profession as an legal professional earlier than becoming a member of McKinsey & Co and rising to senior associate.
Gorman was then recruited on a handshake to Merrill Lynch by its former CEO David Komansky, Gorman informed The New York Instances in an obituary for Komansky, who died in 2021. Gorman went on to carry a collection of government positions at Merrill.
He joined Morgan Stanley in February 2006 and was named co-president the next yr. Because the 2008 monetary disaster unfolded, threatening to topple a few of Wall Road’s greatest companies, Gorman had a front-row seat alongside then-CEO John Mack.
Gorman was a “strikingly calm, stalwart presence” centered on fixing issues in the course of the turmoil, Mack wrote in a memoir printed final yr.
Mack recounted an episode throughout which he negotiated an Eleventh-hour rescue deal from Japanese buyers that meant hanging up on cellphone calls from the nation’s high finance officers on the time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and New York Fed President Tim Geithner.
“John, I learnt extra in these 10 minutes than in any 12 month interval of my profession,” Gorman wrote in a handwritten notice to Mack, which is framed in Mack’s workplace. “It’s a story I’ll by no means cease telling.”
Gorman was named CEO in January 2010 similtaneously his counterpart Brian Moynihan at Financial institution of America Corp. (BAC.N). Each executives, together with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N) Jamie Dimon, have steered their respective companies within the aftermath of the monetary disaster.
Morgan Stanley’s board has chosen three candidates who may take the helm, and Gorman will turn out to be government chairman for a interval when the brand new CEO takes over, he stated, with out naming his potential successors.
Morgan Stanley co-presidents Ted Choose and Andy Saperstein, and head of funding administration Dan Simkowitz, are broadly seen as contenders for the highest job.
“Once I do step down as CEO, it’s the board’s and my expectation that I’ll assume the function of government chairman for a time period,” Gorman informed shareholders.
“This construction will make sure the continued stability of Morgan Stanley, whereas on the identical time positioning it for a decade of thrilling development beneath new management.”
Reporting by Lananh Nguyen; Modifying by Anna Driver
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