Golub quits in Benmosche row

AIG has named Robert S. (Steve) Miller as chairman after Harvey Golub quit following his falling out with chief executive Bob Benmosche.

Golub’s resignation letter said: “Bob Benmosche has informed the Board that he believes our working relationship as Chairman and CEO to be ineffective and unsustainable. “At this point, I view asking the Board to choose between us would be an abdication of my responsibility to lead.

I'm resigning for the simple reason I believe it is easier to replace a chairman than a CEO - particularly a company in the midst of two major activities: (1) a major corporate restructuring, and (2) development of an exit plan from government control, both of which involve executing a long list of difficult tasks.”

On the cusp

Golub said AIG was “on the cusp of having an implementable strategy to pay back the government and stand on its own as a viable and independent insurance company”.

Miller said: "On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Harvey for his tremendous service to AIG."

"AIG has established strong momentum over the last year, and we remain fully committed to delivering on AIG's core priorities: repaying taxpayers, meeting all of the company's obligations to its various stakeholders, and restructuring the company so that it emerges as a smaller, more focused enterprise worthy of investor confidence."

Miller’s background

Miller, 68, was elected to the Board on June 30, 2009. He is Chairman of MidOcean Partners. He retired from his role of executive chairman of Delphi Corporation in 2009. He was previously chairman and chief executive of Delphi Corporation. Prior to joining Delphi, Miller served as chairman of Federal-Mogul, an auto parts supplier based in Southfield, Michigan.

He worked on a number of corporate restructuring situations, including Bethlehem Steel (2001-2003), Federal-Mogul (2000-2001 and 2004-2005), Waste Management (1997-1999), and Morrison Knudsen (1995-1996). Before that, Miller worked at Chrysler. He is a Director of Symantec Corporation and UAL Corporation (United Airlines).