BREAKING NEWS: Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman Stepping Down Within 12 Months
James Gorman plans to step down as Morgan Stanley CEO within the next year after more than a decade leading the Wall Street bank he turned into a wealth management powerhouse.
Gorman said he expected to become executive chair “for a period of time” after handing over to his successor.
“It is the board’s and my expectation that it will occur at some point in the next 12 months,” Gorman said Friday at the firm’s annual meeting. “That is the current expectation in the absence of a major change in the external environment.”
Gorman said Morgan Stanley’s board had “identified three very strong senior internal candidates for consideration as the next CEO,” with reports suggesting investment management boss Dan Simkowitz and co-presidents Andy Saperstein and Ted Pick are likely front-runners.
Gorman succeeded John Mack as CEO in 2010. Since then, he has presided over one of Wall Street’s most significant banking transitions, moving Morgan Stanley’s emphasis from traditional trading and investment banking to wealth management and high net-worth client advisory.