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Parsons in; Bischoff out as Citi chairman

Posted Jan 21st 2009 5:45PM by Peter Cohan (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Time Warner (TWX), AT and T (T), Citigroup Inc. (C)

As I posted last week, Richard Parsons former chairman of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), BloggingStocks' parent, will soon be chairman of Citigroup (NYSE: C). This means that Win Bischoff, who has been Citi's chair for the last year or so, is going to find greener pastures. It also means that changes are afoot at Citi.

Parsons has been the Citi board's lead director and chairman of its nomination and governance committee. Effective February 23 he will take over as the chairman of Citi's board. Bischoff, who has been with Citi as a banker since 2000, will not stand for reelection to the board.

Regulators are looking to put some spine into Citi's board. Parsons, whose mission will be to get new board members who bring "strong, proven business judgment and financial and banking sector expertise" is likely to witness the departure of former AT&T (NYSE: T) chairman, C. Michael Armstrong. Armstrong seems to have missed some of Citi's financial cancer as head of the board's risk and audit committee between 2004 and 2008.

Parsons move can't hurt, but it feels like the cows got out of the barn two years ago. I hope he can help boost the stock.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and is the author of You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He owns Citi shares and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.