Martin Sullivan ousted as Robert Willumstad plans strategic review.
A strategic review of American International Group’s businesses will be led by Robert Willumstad, who was named chief executive officer yesterday after Martin Sullivan was ousted.
Willumstad’s goal is to regain shareholders’ confidence in the world’s largest insurer, after record losses to subprime loans. Sullivan was sacked during the weekend after New York-based AIG lost 41% of market value this year following losses of $13bn in the past two quarters.
Willumstad said: "In the coming months, we will conduct a thorough strategic and operational review of AIG's businesses and their performance. The board and I recognise that results over the past two quarters have been unacceptable, but we are confident in AIG's future. We are determined to get the organisation back on track as quickly as possible and ensure it is well positioned for future success.”
AIG’s operations include offices in more than 100 countries and over $45bn of hard-to-value assets.
Willumstad, 62, has been chairman of the board of AIG since November 2006. He is the co-founder of Brysam Global Partners, a New York-based private equity investment firm focused on emerging markets financial services investments. He resigned in 2005 as president and CEO of Citigroup, where he was responsible for all of the company's businesses and also served as a board member.
The board has also named Stephen Bollenbach as its lead independent director.
Bollenbach said: “AIG is fortunate to have a world-class financial services executive on its board who can immediately step into the CEO role and successfully lead AIG at this critical juncture. The board has great confidence in Bob Willumstad's leadership and his ability to restore AIG to its historic levels of performance.”
Meanwhile, Sullivan is leaving AIG and its board of directors.
George Miles, chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee for the board, said: “Martin successfully led AIG through the crisis it faced when he became CEO in 2005, and he has made significant contributions over the past three years in executing AIG's strategy and building on its global franchise. The board has determined that Bob's broad managerial and financial services experience makes him the right person to lead AIG through today's turbulent markets, drive further organisational change and rebuild shareholder value in the years ahead.”
