JPMorgan’s Lee Raymond to exit board after scrutiny over climate

JPMorgan Chase said Lee Raymond, the company’s longest-serving director, is resigning from the board.

Raymond, the former Exxon Mobil boss who’s been on the board of the biggest U.S. bank for more than three decades, notified JPMorgan of his intention to resign effective Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing Friday. The decision was “not the result of any disagreement with the company,” according to the filing.

JPMorgan said in May it was planning to name a replacement for Raymond, 82, after nonprofit groups and some large investors pushed to remove him due to his track record on climate change. In September, the bank named Stephen Burke as lead independent director. Still, Raymond’s departure comes earlier than expected. He was elected this year to serve another one-year term, running to May 2021.

Raymond was “an instrumental force in helping make JPMorgan Chase the outstanding company it is today,” Chief Executive Jamie Dimon wrote Friday in a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg.
Raymond helped guide the lender through megamergers after mastering them at Exxon, assisted JPMorgan in getting through the global financial crisis and has been one of Dimon’s biggest supporters and advisers.

“He helped us navigate through some of our most challenging times,” Dimon wrote. “He is a man of extraordinary character, wisdom and judgment, embodying exactly what we want in a steward of the firm — complete intellectual independence, a deep understanding of strategy and people, extraordinary tough-mindedness and, importantly, fairness.”