Who will be the next chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley
Ruth Porat is in the post, but she is regarded to be a leading contender for deputy Treasury secretary. If she is selected for the government post, it will result in yet another shuffle in the bank’s top ranks. In recent months, Paul Taubman left Morgan Stanley after a power struggle with Colm Kelleher, who ran institutional securities with him.
Paul Wirth, Jonathan Pruzan, Dan Simkowitz and James A. Rosenthal are among the names being raised as possible successors to Ms. Porat, according to several people at the firm who were not authorized to speak on the record.
Mr. Wirth, a certified public accountant, is the firm’s deputy chief financial officer, a job he has held since February 2011.He also has deep roots on Wall Street and has previously worked at Credit Suisse and Deloitte & Touche.
While Mr. Wirth appears to have the training to do the job, Morgan Stanley has a long tradition of tapping investment bankers to be chief financial officer, as was the case with Ms. Porat.
This has led to speculation that the firm’s chief executive, James P. Gorman, will ask Mr. Pruzan, a financial services banker, to step in. Mr. Pruzan was recently tapped by Mr. Gorman to advise on the revamping of the fixed-income department.
Mr. Simkowitz, Morgan Stanley’s chairman of global capital markets, is another possible contender to succeed Ms. Porat, according to firm insiders. Mr. Simcowitz is well known in banking circles on Wall Street, and has worked closely with Ms. Porat in the past. During the financial crisis, the pa! ir were among the Morgan Stanley bankers who advised the Treasury Department on how best to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage giants. He was also heavily involved in the public offering of Facebook, which has drawn criticism from investors who say it was overpriced. Morgan Stanley, which led that offering, has stood by its actions.
Another name in the mix is Mr. Rosenthal, Morgan Stanley’s chief operating officer and a member of the firm’s powerful operating committee, which includes Morgan Staley’s top officers. Mr. Rosenthal joined Morgan Stanley in March 2008 from the real estate company Tishman Speyer, where he had served as chief financial officer since 2006. Previously, he had worked at Lehman Brothers and McKinsey & Company, where Mr. Gorman had worked for years.
Frank Petigas, global co-head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley, has been mentioned as a dark horse candidate. He is a banker, which helps his chances, but he was only recently named to his current post. He is also based in London, so if selected, he would have to move to New York.
One person who isn’t in the running is Gary Shedl! in, a ban! ker in the firm’s asset management unit. This week, he announced he was going from banking asset managers to working at one, BlackRock.
