| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Bank of America Corp.'s (NYSE:BAC) new chairman Walter Massey is on a mission, and he's moving quickly to revamp the bailed-out bank's board and most likely find a successor for CEO Ken Lewis. He's moving quickly because he has to -- and not just because there's pressure from the government and shareholders to do so, but also because he only has a year before he will have to be replaced as chairman due to a mandatory retirement age requirement of 72. The story in The Wall Street Journal does a nice job summing up just what Massey, a physicist with no banking experience, has accomplished since he took the chair position from CEO Ken Lewis in April. So far he has replaced Ken Lewis' "old boy's club":
"You are going to have some real board meetings at Bank of America now, and this is no longer a good-old-boy, friend-of- Ken-Lewis board," Anthony Polini, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc., told Bloomberg. "Now you've got some independent thinkers and industry experts. This is an incredible move for the company." "Mr. Lewis has done an excellent job. I don't see anyone who could be doing a better job of leading this organization during this time," Massey said to The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, more rumors are bound to pop up as Lewis will testify before Congress Thursday as part of the investigation into the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Massey isn't solely focused on replacing the board; he has also replaced chief risk officer Amy Woods Brinkley with Gregory L. Curl and is expected to announce more departures within the coming weeks, according to Corporate Dealmaker. BofA shareholders, who were pushing for changes in the board, are sure to be watching Massey's actions carefully since their investments fell by 70% since the purchase of Merrill Lynch last year, according to the Charlotte Observer. Some shareholders such as Jonathan Finger of Finger Interests Number One Ltd. are even rumored to be talking with the board. Finger told Dealscape back in May that he was happy that the government was pressuring changes on the board and more changes would probably be on the way. " 'The pressure that the government is applying is consistent with our position that significant restructuring is needed in the corporate governance and supervision of the operations at Bank of America. ... While I think Dr. Massey was selected as chairman as an intermediate solution, I do not think that will limit his ability to be effective. And at the same time, this buys the board more time to find a longer-term solution to the leadership questions facing Bank of America.' " One thing is for sure: Even though Massey doesn't have experience in banking, he has since assuming the chairman position satisfied shareholders and the government, as well as begun the overhaul of management for a turnaround of one of the country's biggest banks. - Maria Woehr
 Deal Video
    Community
 Elsewhere on The Deal.comDealwatch
The Deal MagazineCorporate Dealmaker
The Deal VideoCategories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
©Copyright 2009, The Deal, LLC. All rights reserved. Please send all technical questions, comments or concerns to the Webmaster.
