James Dimon is currently the Chairman, President and Chief Executive of a leading financial services firm and the second largest bank in the United States by asset JP MorganChase & CO. Dimon was named to Time Magazine’s 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011 Best CEOs list in the All-America Executive Team Survey from 2008 through 2011. He was also named the CEO of the year in 2011.
Education and early life
Mr. James Dimon was born on March 13, 1956 in New York City to Theodore and Themis Dimon of Greek descent. He completed his schooling from Browning school and later completed his majors in psychology and economics at Tufts University in 1978. Later, he also secured an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School in 1982. James Dimon is also the director of The College Fund/UNCF and serves on the Board of Directors of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Harvard Business School and Catalyst. Mr. Dimon is also on the board of Trustees of NewYork University School of Medicine. In his young days, Mr. Dimon would work under his grandfather and father who were brokers and partners during summer time.
James Dimon’s stint with JPMorgan Chase
James Dimon joined JP Morgan Chase as the President and Chief Operating Officer after its merger with Bank One Corporation in July 2004. He became the Chairman of the Board on December 31, 2006 and has been Chief Executive Officer and President since December 31, 2005. As the Chairman, President & CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Mr. Dimon was responsible to oversee the transfer of $25 billion in bailout funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to JP Morgan Chase on October 28, 2008 via the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Under Dimon’s leadership, JP MorganChase has now become the leading U.S. bank in domestic assets under management, market capitalization value and publicly traded stock value. The financial services company is also the number one credit card provider in the United States. In 2009, Dimon was considered one of the top gun CEOs by an advisory agency Brendan Wood International.
Dimon’s career highlights with other companies
After graduating in 1982, Sandy Weill convinced Dimon to turn down the offers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to join him as an assistant at American Express. Weill left American Express in 1985 and Dimon followed suit. The two then acquired Commercial Credit, a consumer finance company from Control Data. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions in 1998, Dimon and Weill were able to form the largest financial services conglomerate Citigroup. Dimon left Citigroup in November 1998. In March 2,000 Dimon became CEO of Bank One, the nation’s fifth largest bank. Later in March 2008, he was the board member of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and CEO of JP Morgan. He also made decisions in connection with the $55 billion loan to JP Morgan to bail out Bear Stearns. After his presidential victory in the fall of 2008, and the acquisition of Washington Mutual by JP MorganChase, Presidential Obama had this to say about Dimon’s handling of the real-estate crash, credit crisis, and the banking collapse affecting corporations nationwide, including major financial institutions like Bank of America, Citibank and Wachovia, “You know, keep in mind, though. There are a lot of banks that are actually preety well managed, JP Morgan being a good example.”
Dimon’s leadership
Jamie Dimon is known for his detailed operational expertise and blunt mouth. The financial collapse had at a certain point of time destroyed several investment banks. But James Dimon managed to avoid the same fate for JP Morgan Chase which speaks volumes of his leadership.
Personal Life
James Dimon is married to Judith Kent and they have three children namely Laura, Julia and Kara Leigh.
Famous quotes from Jamie Dimon leadership
Ø “My next boss will be normal.”
Ø “Most of the management team feels that we are not a lean and mean competitor.”
Ø “Our plate is full. We have a lot to do building our company organically and that is our key focus.”
Ø “The transaction reflects our disciplined strategy of investing capital in core businesses where we can leverage scale and expertise for competitive advantage. In addition to being a great strategic fit, the deal is compelling financially.”
