Obama's Favorite Wall Streeters

[JDPriestly]

2. So who is running this country?

The president's chief of staff is generally considered to be the most powerful person in the adminsitration.

Jack Lew is from Citigroup. What is Citigroup? Who is behind it?

Largest investors are institutions -- Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.

Here is the list

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=C+Major+Holders

At one time Prince Al-Waleed was a big investor in Citigroup. Don't know if he still is.

Al-Waleed began his business career in 1979 upon graduation from Menlo College in California. The Prince's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a substantial tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. With an initial investment of $550 million ($2.98 a share after adjusting for stock splits, acquisitions and spin-offs, according to Bloomberg calculations) to bail out Citibank caused by underperforming American real estate loans and Latin American businesses, his holdings in Citigroup now comprise for about $1 billion. His investments in Citibank earned him the title of "Arabian Warren Buffett".

His stake in Citibank once accounted for approximately half of his wealth, prior to the recent financial crisis. At the end of 1990 he bought 4.9 percent of Citicorp’s existing common shares for $207 million ($12.46 per share)—the most that he could without being legally obliged to declare his interest. In February 1991, the prince spent $590m buying new preferred shares, convertible into common shares at $16 each. This amounted to a further 10% of Citicorp and took his stake to 14.9%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal

Confirming Al-Waleed's recent relationship with Citicgroup

October 17, 2011, 1:12 PM

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the biggest individual shareholder in Citigroup, said Monday the bank’s third-quarter results were “promising,” and he reiterated his support for its Chief Executive, Vikram Pandit.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/17/prince-alwaleed-is-happy-with-citigroup-now/

Prince Alwaleed is also a major investor in Fox News and Fox in general.

Here is Jon Stewart on this issue.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-23-2010/the-parent-company-trap

CEO Vikram Pandit
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=C+Profile

Vikram Shankar Pandit (Marathi: विक्रम शंकर पंडित; born 14 January 1957) is an Indian-born American business executive. He is widely known as the CEO of Citigroup, a position he has held since Dec 2007.[4]

He holds a B.S & M.S degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, followed by an M.B.A & Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia Business School. Pandit, a naturalized citizen of United States, lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Pandit

Vikram Pandit did not come to the US until he was 16.

Mr. John Havens is the COO

John P. Havens (born c. 1957) is president and chief operating officer of Citigroup.

Havens graduated from Harvard University in 1979[1] and his first job was trader of convertible securities at Kidder Peabody.[2]

He joined Morgan Stanley in 1986 as a principal in Institutional Equity. where he struck up a personal and business relationship with Vikram Pandit where the two rose through the ranks until he and Pandit left after being passed over by Philip J. Purcell in 2005.[3][4][5] The two formed Old Lane LP which was in turn was bought by Citigroup in 2007 for $800 million.[6]

. . . .

At Citi he was the highest paid official in 2009 and 2010 when he was paid more than $9 million/year at a time when Pandit was making only $1/year as Citi was dealing with bringing the company out of near collapse and was subsidized by $20 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds.[6][7] In January 2011, he became president and COO a month after Citi paid back its TARP loans. The position had been vacant since 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Havens

John C. Gerspach - CFO

57 Years Old
John Gerspach was named Chief Financial Officer of Citi in July 2009. He is responsible for the financial management of the company. Prior to being named CFO, John was Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Citi. Mr. Gerspach has been with Citi since 1990 and has held various CFO and Chief Administrative Officer positions throughout the company. He has experience in both the Regional Consumer Banking and Institutional Clients Group and has worked closely with all of the regions, including serving as the CFO/CAO of Latin America. Before joining Citi in 1990, Mr. Gerspach was CFO at Penn Central Industry Group. Prior to that, he was Comptroller for the Defense Contracting Group at ITT Corporation. His professional career began at Arthur Andersen & Company. Mr. Gerspach earned his degree in accounting at the University of Notre Dame and is CPA certified in the State of New York.

http://people.forbes.com/profile/john-c-gerspach/19725

Manuel Medina Mora -- responsible for Citigroup's dealings in Latin America

Manuel Medina-Mora is CEO of Consumer Banking for the Americas and Chairman of the Global Consumer Banking Council. He is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Latin America and Mexico. In North America, his responsibilities cover all consumer banking businesses and include: Retail Banking, Branded Credit Cards, Citi Personal Banking and Wealth Management, Small Business, Commercial Banking and Marketing. His responsibilities in Citi's Latin America and Mexico businesses include: Markets & Banking, eBanking, Treasury, Consumer Bank, Cards Business, Retail Banking, Insurance, Pension Funds, Securities, Brokerage and Asset Management. He started his career with Banamex in 1971 in the area of corporate banking. Later, he assumed responsibilities within the international arena. In 1990 he led Banamex's privatization and, as a result of Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival's creation in 1991, he became the Deputy President responsible for bank strategy and corporate development. He was appointed CEO of Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival in 1996, then was CEO of Banamex from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Medina-Mora holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University.

http://people.forbes.com/profile/manuel-medina-mora/19721

Michael L. Corbat -- responsible for European services
Michael L. Corbat is CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa where he oversees all of Citi's business operations in the region, including corporate and investment banking, securities and trading, private banking, transaction services and consumer banking.

Mr. Corbat most recently served as the CEO of Citi Holdings, Citi's portfolio of non-core businesses and assets. During his tenure running Citi Holdings, Mr. Corbat oversaw the divestiture of more than 40 businesses, including the IPO and sale of Citi's remaining stake in Primerica. Mr. Corbat also successfully restructured Citi's consumer finance and retail partner cards businesses and divested more than $500 billion assets, reducing risk on Citi's balance sheet and freeing up capital to invest in Citi's core banking business.

Prior to his appointment to lead Citi Holdings, Mr. Corbat was the CEO of Citi's Global Wealth Management unit, which comprised Smith Barney and the Citi Private Bank. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director and Head of the Global Corporate Bank and Global Commercial Bank at Citi, a role in which he led the firm's efforts to provide best-in-class financial services to top-tier multi-national corporations and financial institutions around the world.

http://www.citigroup.com/citi/corporategovernance/profile.jsp?bio=15