It is official: the last CEO of Merrill Lynch before the company’s merger with Bank of America has once again proven his resiliency to take on challenges when he accepted the top post at the embattled lender CIT group as chief executive officer last February 7, 2010. John Thain was elected as the chairman and CEO of CIT, replacing interim CEO Peter Tobin.
The new position is a herculean task to tackle as CIT, a lender to small and medium market businesses, just recently emerged from bankruptcy after the recession. The company got out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which involved the restructuring of a corporation’s business affairs and assets, following a failed attempt to reorganize its debts that resulted in losses as more customers defaulted on repaying loans during the financial crisis.
The 54-year old American businessman and investment banker previously served as the president and co-chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs from 1999-2004 and as the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange from 2004-2007. After that, he became the chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch until he sold it to Bank of America last September 2008 for $24 billion. In the midst of the global economic recession, John Thain was trying to avoid the same fate as Lehman Brothers. On January 29 2009, he resigned from the newly-combined companies after being reportedly forced out of his position as the head of the merger’s banking and wealth management operations by Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America. Though he became the target of government criticism and public outrage, the former leader of Merrill Lynch was not charged with any misconduct.
However, after all of this, he became one of the first well-known chief executives who reemerged on the top of a company after losing his position during the global recession.