Sallie Krawcheck on the list of Ken Lewis’ potential successors at BofA

Ken Lewis’ sudden announcement to Bank of America’s board last night that he’ll step down as CEO at yearend forces the company to move quickly to name a successor.
There are good reasons to think it won’t look far for its next chief executive.
While multiple reports today said that the company will look at external candidates — the New York Times named former Wachovia CEO Robert Steel as one — there are strong candidates already in-house.
Sallie Krawcheck, who was hired in early August to head BofA’s global wealth and investment management business, is certain to be in the running. When the announcement of Ms. Krawcheck’s hiring was made Aug. 3, Mr. Lewis noted that the “these [management changes] also position a number of senior executives to compete to succeed me at the appropriate time.”
When Ms. Krawcheck was hired, Brian Moynihan was moved over to head BofA’s global corporate and investment banking business — a move that would give him broader exposure to another part of the bank’s many businesses, and position him as a potential CEO. Mr. Moynihan had previously held Ms. Krawcheck’s job as the head of global wealth and investment management.
Ms. Krawcheck, who ran the Smith Barney wealth management business at Citigroup Inc. until the end of last year, has leadership experience beyond the retail arena — she also served as Citi’s chief financial officer and earlier was chairman and CEO of the research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC.
Scott Silvestri, a BofA spokesman, did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on a potential succession plan.

Related Topics: Bank Of America Corp.