Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives
Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.
Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices
Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.
Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices
This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »September 19, 2008 — CIO —
Perhaps Tom Sanzone saw this coming. Perhaps he did not.
But Sanzone, who is Merrill Lynch's brand-new EVP and chief administrative officer (which is the top technology position), may be looking for a new place to hang his hat since Bank of America announced on Sept. 15 that it was buying troubled Merrill Lynch for $50 billion. (Other than announcing that three directors of Merrill Lynch will join Bank of America's board of directors., as of Sept. 19 the companies have not yet announced which top executives from each company will remain with the combined entity once the acquisition is complete.)
Sanzone left his high-profile CIO post at Credit Suisse in late February 2008 to join Merrill Lynch, though he didn't actually start his new job until mid-July, due to his preexisting employment contract with Credit Suisse. (To read an inside account of Sanzone's departure and the early signs of economic chaos at both Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch, see "Credit Suisse CIO Jumps Ship to Merrill Lynch Amid Industry Turmoil.")
According to a Merrill Lynch filing with the SEC, Sanzone was slated to earn approximately $10 million during his first year (a base salary of $600,000 plus a $9.4 million bonus.)
It's not entirely clear if Sanzone will still receive this compensation in the event he loses his job due to Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The legalese of Sanzone's employment agreement with Merrill Lynch suggests that he may very well receive this compensation even if he's forced out in the aftermath of the BofA deal: The employment agreement states that if Sanzone is terminated without cause or if he wants to resign from the company for "good reason" before he is paid any portion of his $9.4 million bonus, that bounty will awarded to him in cash.
Sanzone's future with Bank of America isn't the only one that's uncertain. Thousands of other IT workers in the financial services industry are wondering whether their jobs are safe.
Outside of Mahogany Row where golden parachutes are reserved for the privileged few, "there's clearly going to be a reshuffling of the deck" inside IT departments, says Marc Lewis, CEO of executive recruiter Leadership Capital Group (LCG).
So far, the reshuffling of the deck is looking more like a collapsing house of cards. Management consulting firm Janco Associates reported on Sept. 15 that the financial industry turmoil, along with HP's announcement that it would lay off 24,600 employees over three years, would "glut" the IT job market.
Based on interviews with "highly placed sources" within Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, Janco reported that "a large number of IT professionals in both organizations will lose their jobs before the end of the year."
For instance, Janco estimates that more than 230 IT professionals at Lehman Brothers who make $250,000 or more a year will be out of a job by year-end. At Merrill Lynch more than 180 IT professionals making more than $250,000 a year will be also without work, according to Janco.
And then there's the loads of speculation and angst surrounding Deb Horvath, CIO of Washington Mutual, and her IT staff. WaMu just replaced its CEO, had its debt ratings reduced by Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's, and, according to a New York Times article, is trying to sell itself to Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase or HSBC.
"The unsurprising announcement," notes the Times article, "comes as the bank, which has suffered badly from losses on mortgages it had made, continues to stumble."
Those at the top of the food chain—the Sanzones and Horvaths—most likely will receive million-dollar payout packages if they are asked to exit their companies. (A Merrill Lynch spokesperson declined to comment or make Sanzone available for this story. Washington Mutual and Horvath did not return a request to comment for this story.)
"What you'll see now is that this is where the haves and the have nots get separated," says Lewis, referring to those IT executives who have contracts and the staff who are employed at will. "The senior people are all going to be cashing out on their golden handcuffs."