Vikram Pandit

Vikram S. Pandit
Born	(1957-01-14) January 14, 1957 Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Alma mater	Gannon University Columbia University
Occupation	CEO of Citigroup
Spouse	Swati [2]
Children	Maya and Rahul [3]

Vikram Pandit (Marathi: विक्रम पंडित) (born January 14, 1957 in Nagpur) is the current CEO of Citigroup. He ranked #20 in Worst American CEOs of All Time.

Early life and background

Vikram Pandit was born in Nagpur, India, to an affluent Maharashtrian family. His mother tongue is Marathi. His father, S B Pandit, was an executive director at Sarabhai Chemicals in Baroda.

He completed his schooling at the Dadar Parsee Youths Assembly High School in Dadar, Mumbai. He moved to the United States when he was sixteen years old, to study at Gannon University. He received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and an M.B.A in 1976, 1977, and 1980 respectively, and a Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia University in 1986. He is a trustee at Columbia University.

Ph.D. Research

His Ph.D. Thesis was entitled "Asset prices in a heterogeneous consumer economy".

The abstract is as follows :

This research examines the properties of asset prices in a multi-consumer, dynamic economy under uncertainty. A linear asset pricing relationship is obtained. It is shown that this relationship contains an extra term compared to the well-known Capital Asset Pricing Model. This term may explain the anomalies observed in the tests of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. An analysis of the factors affecting stock prices in a two consumer economy is conducted. It is shown that in addition to any technological uncertainty, volume of transactions also affects stock prices. Finally, in a multi-consumer economy, an important issue is the distribution of securities amongst consumers. It is shown that conditions on preferences control this distribution. The " impatience factors" of the consumers determine whether the distribution of securities amongst consumers is equitable, whether one consumer acquires all the wealth or whether an in between case occurs.

Early Career

Vikram Pandit was a professor at Indiana University (Bloomington). He joined Morgan Stanley as an associate in 1983, one of the first Indians to join the company.[4]

Leadership Positions

As head of Morgan Stanley's institutional securities division from 1994 to 2000, he pushed the company further into electronic trading and helped to build prime brokerage services that catered to hedge funds. He led the institutional securities from 2000 to 2005. The Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 2008.

He was the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group at Morgan Stanley, where he was responsible for the overall management of the group and focused on the trading, sales, and infrastructure aspects of the business (2000–2005). Prior to that position, Pandit served as the managing director and head of the Worldwide Institutional Equities Division (1994–2000), and as the managing director and head of the US Equity Syndicate (1990–1994) for Morgan Stanley. In 2005, Pandit was fired from Morgan Stanley and started a hedge fund in 2006 with other Morgan Stanley refugees named Old Lane Partners.

Citigroup subsequently purchased the poorly performing fund in 2007 for $800 million. Pandit received approximately $165.2 million for this transaction. Many analysts believe that this hefty price was paid for a hedge fund with only $4.5 billion under management to get Pandit onto Citigroup. He received an additional $2.7 million in the roughly six months he served as head of Citigroup's investment bank and alternative investments group. In January 2008, Pandit was given a sign-on grant of stock and performance-based options worth more than $48 million, though the options currently have no cash value.

Pandit serves on the boards of Columbia University, Columbia Business School, the Indian School of Business and The Trinity School. He is a former board member of NASDAQ (2000–2003), the New York City Investment Fund.

Citigroup

On December 11, 2007, Pandit was named the new CEO of Citigroup, replacing interim-CEO Sir Winfried Bischoff, who became chairman of the board as well as remaining CEO of Citigroup Europe. Interim chairman Robert Rubin strongly supported Pandit, who is the effective successor to Chuck Prince. Prince resigned in November 2007 due to unexpectedly poor 3rd-quarter performance, mainly due to CDO- and MBS-related losses.

Compensation

While CEO of Citigroup in 2007, Vikram S. Pandit earned an annualized compensation of $3,164,320, which included a base salary of $250,000, stocks granted of $2,914,320, and options granted of $0. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $38,237,437, which included a base salary of $958,333, stocks granted of $28,830,000, and options granted of $8,432,911.

2009

On February 11, 2009, Pandit testified to Congress that he had declared to his board of directors, "my salary should be $1 per year with no bonus until we return to profitability,". He also struck an apologetic tone for letting the bank consider completing the purchase of a private jet plane after receiving some $45 billion in bailout money. His total 2009 compensation was $128,751, with a base salary of $125,001 and other compensation of $3,750.

Personal life

Pandit lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side.

External links

• Vikram Pandit speaks at Wharton on current crisis.
• Citigroup Bio
• Interview with Vikram Pandit's Father
• Interview with Vikram Pandit's Father on CNN-IBN
• Rediff.com Special Report on Vikram Pandit , father Shankar Pandit and his extended family