In an industry known to have a revolving door that rarely stops spinning, John Gerspach is a company man. He joined Citigroup (then Citicorp) in 1990 and served in several behind-the-scenes roles, most recently as its comptroller and chief accounting officer, before being tapped to take over as CFO in July.
With the exception of CEOs, no members of Wall Street C-suites have been under more pressure during the banking meltdown than CFOs. For Erin Callan, becoming Lehman Brothers Holdings’ CFO stalled what had been an impressive career trajectory; today she is taking a leave of absence from the industry. But Gerspach, 55, is undaunted: “Fundamentally, our core franchise remains strong,” he says. “No other financial services firm has the combination of businesses that Citi has, nor is any as uniquely positioned as we are to leverage global and regional growth.” Investors hope he’s right.
