Help Me Help You
Kenneth Feinberg says he is not out to get you.
Sure, the Treasury Department's special master for compensation just announced that he would review executive compensation at 419 Troubled Asset Relief Program recipients, looking for excessive pay during the crisis.
But he said he likes to think more of his relationship with the industry as cooperative. Last weekend, in a keynote speech to a conference of business reporters in Phoenix, he played down his unofficial title of pay czar — "a very unfortunate term" — and described his job as hashing out "consensual pay with Wall Street."
"Consensual," of course, is not a synonym for enjoyable. But Feinberg said he has executives' best interests in mind, even if they do not realize it. In dealing with the seven companies that required "exceptional" government aid, he said he has often prevented financial institutions from stumbling into public relations blunders.
" 'If I pay what you want to this individual, she'll be subpoenaed by [House Banking Committee Chairman] Barney Frank,' " he recalled saying in one such conversation. " 'There will be pickets at this person's house.' "
It is not that Feinberg lacks sympathy for people who feel they are not getting what they're worth, he said, but he finds the process to be much less fraught than the role he played a few years ago in overseeing the 9/11 fund.
"That was valuing human lives who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," he said. "This is different."
That Retail Religion
Rick Otero has been quietly doing his part to educate others beyond his day job.
For the past year, the Capital One Financial Corp. executive has operated a Web site — www.goldenmean.com — that offers advice on topics such as branding, customer service and ethics. Its motto is: "In pursuit of the great customer experience."
Otero said he was inspired to do more as the industry worked its way through the financial crisis.
"I just felt that bankers should be doing more for society," he said in an interview at a retail symposium in Orlando hosted by American Banker.
The site blends personal work, including blog entries and a revised version of Otero's master thesis evaluating Bank of America Corp.'s purchase of FleetBoston Financial Corp., with free studies he has received from consulting firms.
In Grand Company
What does Citigroup Inc.'s chief operating officer of global community relations have in common with tennis champion Roger Federer, Twitter Chief Executive Evan Williams and India's minister of rural development?
All were among the 197 inductees to the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders class of 2010.
Shamina Singh has helped lead Citi's efforts on issues ranging from foreclosure prevention to poverty alleviation and economic development. She joined the company in 2004 after 15 years in public service, including jobs in the Clinton administration and the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Singh also is on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and was recently appointed to President Obama's Military Leadership Diversity Commission.
Young Global Leaders, sponsored by the same group that hosts international luminaries every year in Davos, Switzerland, draws from 72 countries.
On the Move
After shuffling some executives this week, SunTrust Banks Inc. made another move Thursday. The Atlanta banking company promoted Treasurer Jerome Lienhard to senior vice president of strategic finance and administration. He is responsible for areas including corporate real estate and strategic finance. Aleem Gillani, currently the chief market risk officer, is to succeed Lienhard as treasurer. The appointments take effect April 1. Both men will report to Chief Financial Officer Mark Chancy.
HSBC Holdings PLC has named Ashley Parker to oversee the New York City area of its U.S. retail banking arm, HSBC Bank USA.
Parker, who has been with HSBC since 1994, is to relocate from Bermuda, where he was responsible for personal financial services, commercial banking and other operations. He succeeds James Emmett, who moved to a strategic role in HSBC's Hong Kong division.
In New York, Parker is responsible for HSBC's 117 branches and 1,400 employees.
