Citigroup Inc. nominated four directors in a government-induced shake-up after the Obama administration orchestrated a third rescue attempt for the New York company in five months.
Citi said Monday it nominated four former finance industry veterans: Jerry Grundhofer, Michael O'Neill, William S. Thompson and Anthony Santomero. Shareholders will vote on the choices at the company's April 21 meeting.
The government pressed Citi to revamp its board to show Wall Street and the public that companies face consequences when the government is forced step in to save them, an administration official said last month.
"Any time you bring new blood, it's a good thing," Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's John Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, said before the nominees were announced. "The shareholders wish they had done this sooner."
Grundhofer, 64, is the former CEO of U.S. Bancorp and a former Lehman Bros. director.
O'Neill, 62, headed Bank of Hawaii Corp. and helped oversee BankAmerica Corp.'s 1998 sale to NationsBank Corp.
Thompson, 63, retired last year as co-head of Pacific Investment Management Co., the biggest manager of bond funds.
Santomero, 62, is the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia who was most recently a senior adviser at McKinsey & Co.
At least 10 of Citi's directors were board members in the years leading up to the fourth quarter of 2007, when the company posted the first of five quarterly net losses that totaled $37.5 billion. They served under Sanford Weill, who built the financial colossus through acquisitions over two decades. Weill, 76, retired in 2006.
In January, Citi selected Richard Parsons, the former CEO of Time Warner Inc., to replace Win Bischoff as chairman, and Robert Rubin announced he would not run for re-election to the board. Citi also said Roberto Hernandez Ramirez would not seek re-election. Last month Citi announced that three directors would not seek re-election. Two others, Franklin Thomas and Kenneth Derr, said they would retire. At the time the company said it would have a majority of new independent directors "as soon as feasible."
Grundhofer became CEO of U.S. Bancorp after his brother, John Grundhofer, retired. Thompson sits on the board of Pacific Life Insurance Co., where he chairs the investment and finance committee. He sits on the board of Allianz Dresdner Asset Management.
O'Neill was CEO and chairman of Bank of Hawaii from 2000 through 2004. He was the CEO of Barclays PLC in 1999 until he resigned because of ill health. Santomero was president of the Philadelphia Fed from 2000 to 2006.
