Charles_Prince

Charles Prince

Charles O. "Chuck" Prince, III (born January 13 1950) is a former chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the CEO of the firm in 2003, and as the Chairman of the Board in 2006. On November 4th, 2007 he retired from both his CEO and chairman duties due to unexpectedly poor 3rd quarter performance, mainly due to CDO and MBS related losses.

History

Charles O. Prince III, was born in Lynwood, California on 13 January, 1950. Prince went to the University of Southern California for his Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, and Juris Doctor. He continued his education going on to receive a Master of Law degree from Georgetown University.

The son of a plasterer and a housewife, Prince started his career as an attorney with U.S. Steel Corp in 1975. In 1979, he joined Commercial Credit Company, a predecessor to Citigroup that Sandy Weill took over in 1986. He was promoted in 1996 to Executive Vice President of the firm, which by this point was known as the Travelers Group, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup. In 2000, shortly following the 1998 merger of Travelers and Citigroup, Prince was named Chief Administrative Officer of the newly created firm, Citigroup. He was subsequently promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2001, to CEO and Chairman of Citi Markets and Banking in 2002, and finally to CEO and Chairman.

Personal life

Prince is currently married to Margaret L. Wolff. The couple was wed on September 20, 2003 at The Pierre Hotel in New York City. Semi-retired Judge Robert W. Sweet presided over the ceremonies.

Affiliations

Prince currently serves in the influential trade group the Financial Services Forum, as well as a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, the Business Roundtable, and several other organizations. Along with his directorship on the Citigroup board, Prince has served as a member of Johnson & Johnson's board since February 13, 2006. He also serves as a trustee for several education institutions including Weill Medical College, Teachers College, and The Juilliard School.

Current events

On Sunday, 4 November 2007, Prince resigned from his post as CEO of Citigroup due to the failing mortgage industry. He was replaced by Vikram Pandit as the current CEO of Citigroup , and by Robert Rubin as its Chairman.

Prince left with vested stock holdings valued at USD$94 million and the roughly $53.1 million salary he received over the four years in the position. He also received a pension of $1.74 million and another one million stock options (which were worthless at the time of his departure, but may be worth about $4 million eventually). He is still a consultant with Citigroup and widely rumoured to be running the bank's regulatory affairs.