Morgan Stanley’s Board of Directors has announced that Co-President James P. Gorman will become the firm’s CEO, effective January 1, 2010, while Chairman and CEO John J. Mack will continue to serve as chairman.
Gorman also will join Morgan Stanley’s board at year end. He presently serves as chairman of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture, which includes 18,450 financial advisors. Co-President Walid A. Chammah will become chairman of Morgan Stanley International at year end and will stay in London.
“John [Mack] and the board believe James Gorman is ideally suited to lead Morgan Stanley forward,” says Robert Kidder, lead director of the board.
“As co-president of the firm since 2007, he has been central to our success in the most challenging period in history and served as a key architect of Morgan Stanley’s strategy. He led dramatic turnarounds of major businesses at both Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, and this year forged the world’s largest wealth management business with the Smith Barney joint venture,” explains Kidder