Corporate Ladder
Herb Boydstun says he's "fond" of John Kanas - but reporting to him is a different matter.
As chief executive, Mr. Boydstun sold Hibernia Corp. of New Orleans to Capital One Financial Corp. in November. Under the merger agreement, he was guaranteed a job as the McLean, Va., company's highest-ranking banking executive.
But Capital One quickly decided to add another banking company to the mix, announcing in March that it was buying North Fork Bancorp. Inc. of Melville, N.Y. That deal, set to close in the fourth quarter, will put an end to Mr. Boydstun's tenure as banking chief of Capital One, because Mr. Kanas is to become Capital One's president and head of banking. (Both men are 59.)
It wasn't the first time that Mr. Boydstun relinquished the chief executive post for a role in a bigger company. In 1994 he sold a small community bank, First Bancorp of Louisiana, to Hibernia. "I went from being a CEO to being a non-CEO," he said. "And when we sold to Capital One I went from being a CEO to a non-CEO, and I am fine."
But with the North Fork acquisition he would fall another rank. "I was very supportive in doing the North Fork deal, knowing that it would probably impact me personally," he said. Mr. Boydstun said he realized that Rich Fairbank, Capital One's chairman and CEO, "had to promise John that he would be allowed to run the banking segment."
"I am very fond of John, I am very fond of Rich. ... But as the North Fork deal comes into place, my reporting would go down and I would be reporting to John, who reports to Rich. ... And to be two or three levels down just didn't have the right feel. And so I will be leaving Capital One in April of next year."
In the Right Spot
Location, location, location.
That's what helped sell former Wells Fargo & Co. chairman and CEO Paul Hazen on joining the board of a start-up that runs an online marketplace for consumer loans. "It's local, it's right there in San Francisco, and I just bought a condo in the St. Regis," he said. "So I'm up there from time to time."
On Monday, Mr. Hazen, the chairman of the specialty finance company KKR Financial Corp. of San Francisco, joined the board of Prosper Inc., which was started in February by Chris Larsen. Mr. Larsen is a founder and former CEO of E-Loan Inc., which is now a division of Popular Inc.
In a phone interview Monday while vacationing in Hawaii, Mr. Hazen, 64, said Mr. Larsen's involvement and the concept of a Web marketplace where individuals can borrow or offer to loan money appealed to him.
The private equity fund Accel Partners of Palo Alto, Calif., invested in Prosper after Mr. Hazen praised the concept. Mr. Hazen is also the chairman of Accel-KKR LLC, a Menlo Park, Calif., private equity firm created in 2000 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Though Prosper's management and strategy caught his eye, Mr. Hazen said he also liked its proximity to his house in Pebble Beach, 100 miles south of San Francisco. He spent 30 years with Wells Fargo and retired in 2001 as its chairman and chief CEO.
He is also on the boards of Vodafone PLC of Newbury, U.K., Xstrata PLC of Zug, Switzerland, Willis Group Ltd. of London, and Safeway Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif.
