Who will run Morgan Stanley?

May 17, 2009 | By Jim Kim

Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack turns 65 this year. Breakingviews raises the issue of succession. The board would be wise to consider this now. One obvious frontrunner would be James Gorman, who runs the asset management and brokerage arm. He reminds some of Phil Purcell--who didn't fare so well. Both were McKinsey men; neither were bankers.

Breakingviews raise some other possibilities: Walid Chammah, co-president; Colm Kelleher, the CFO; and Paul Taubman, who runs investment banking. Gorman's expertise on the deposit-taking side may jive well with industry trends. Certainly, the board has to decide what kind of firm Morgan Stanley will be. What the board has to avoid at all costs is the perception of a rift between the bankers and the brokers. Purcell was never able to overcome that. Stay tuned, as a decision will need to be made fairly soon.

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