Jamie Dimon

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James L. "Jamie" Dimon (born March 13, 1956) is the current CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co as well as a Class A director of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve, a three year term which started January 2007.^[1][2] Dimon was named to Time Magazine′s 2006 and 2009 lists of the world's 100 most influential people.

[edit] History

James L. "Jamie" Dimon was born in New York City, where he would attend Browning School^[3], to Theodore and Themis Dimon. His grandfather, a Greek immigrant from Turkey, was a broker and passed on his knowledge of the business to his son and partner, Theodore. They worked together for 19 years, and Jamie held summer jobs at their New York office. Later, he majored in psychology and economics at Tufts University, before earning an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School. Upon his graduation in 1982, Sandy Weill convinced him to turn down offers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to join him as an assistant at American Express.

Although Weill could not offer the same amount of money as the investment banks, Weill promised Dimon that he would have "fun". In a power struggle, Weill left American Express in 1985 and Dimon followed him. The two then took over Commercial Credit, a consumer finance company, from Control Data, which became the vehicle that Dimon and Weill would use to propel themselves to the top of the financial world. Through a series of unprecedented mergers and acquisitions, in 1998 Dimon and Weill were able to form the largest financial services conglomerate the world had ever seen, Citigroup.

Dimon left Citigroup in November 1998. It was rumored at the time that he and Weill got into an argument in 1997 over the perceived lack of promotion given by Dimon to Weill's daughter, Jessica M. Bibliowicz.^[4] In his 2005 University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Fireside Chat and 2006 Kellogg School of Management interviews, Dimon stated that he was fired by Weill.

In March 2000 Dimon became CEO of Bank One, then the nation's fifth largest bank.^[5] He became president of J.P. Morgan Chase in mid-2004 when it acquired Bank One.

After his Presidential victory in the Fall of 2008, and the acquisition of Washington Mutual by JPMorganChase, President Obama had this to say about Dimon's handling of the real-estate crash, credit crisis, and the banking collapse affecting corporations nationwide, including major financial institutions like Bank Of America, Citibank, and Wachovia:

"You know, keep in mind, though. There are a lot of banks that are actually pretty well managed; JP Morgan being a good example. Jamie Dimon, the CEO there; I don’t think he should be punished for doing a pretty good job managing an enormous portfolio."

During the 2008-2009 presidential transition process, there was some speculation that Dimon would serve in the Obama Administration as United States Secretary of the Treasury. President Barack Obama eventually named President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy Geithner to the position. ^[6]

Under his leadership, and acquisitions, JPMorganChase is now the leading major U.S. Bank in domestic assets under management, market capitalization value, and publicly traded stock value. JPMorganChase is also the #1 credit card provider in the United States.

[edit] New York Federal Reserve Director

J. Richard Finlay, founder of the Centre for Corporate & Public Governance, stated: "The New York Fed's governance brings to mind the crony-stocked, self-serving boardroom of the New York Stock Exchange under Richard Grasso before it was forced to make major changes to ensure higher standards of independence and accountability. It is clearly time to look at to whom and how the New York Federal Reserve is held accountable." ^[7] Dimon's role at the New York Fed "includes approving the Bank's budget, overseeing operations, and appointing the Bank's officers." ^[8]

[edit] Federal TARP Funds

As JPMorgan Chase's Chairman, President & CEO, Dimon oversaw the transfer of $25 billion from the US Treasury Department to JPMorgan Chase on October 28, 2008 via the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).^[9] This was the fifth largest amount transferred under Section A of TARP^[10] to help troubled assets related to residential mortgages.

JPMorgan Chase advertised in February 2009 that they would be using their capital base monetary strength to acquire new businesses ^[11], primarily due to the funds provided by TARP and in direct violation of TARP’s main intent; to help troubled assets related to residential mortgages and all obligations as spelled out in TARP.

The US Government, as of February 2009, had yet to move forward in enforcing TARP's intent in funding JP Morgan Chase with $25,000,000,000^[9] Dimon was quoted, during the week of February 1, 2009, in the face of the US government's lack of federal enforcement, as saying

[edit] Relations with President Obama

Dimon is a Democrat and worked in President Obama's town of Chicago, and after Obama took office and JPMorgan Chase repaid its bailout money more quickly than most, he became influential in the White House.^[13]

[edit] Personal

Dimon is married to Judith Kent; they have three children: Julia, Laura, and Kara Leigh. Outside of his duties to JPMorgan Chase in New York, Jamie also owns a home in the Chicago area.

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Jamie Dimon: Crain's New Influentials
• Interview with Financial Times
• JPMorgan Chase: Board member biography
• NNDB - James Dimon
• 1996 BusinessWeek profile
• In This Corner! The Contender, Fortune, March 21, 2006
• Jamie Dimon: Rising to the Top, Again. - Monroe Street Journal, November 12, 2001
• Bank One Chairman and CEO speaks to Executive MBA students, video of an address at Kellogg School of Management, October 4, 2002
• Jamie Dimon: Type A - analysis of his style of management (2006)
• [2] 2009