Monday, financial services company Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), revealed the appointment of Nelson Chai, currently the Chief Financial Officer of NYSE Euronext, as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the company effective December 10, 2007. Chai will replace Jeff Edwards who has been the Chief Financial Officer at Merrill Lynch since 2005. Edwards will, however, continue with the company as part of the management team in a new role.
The New York City based Merrill Lynch credited Chai as having played critical roles in the Euronext and Archipelago mergers at the NYSE with involvement in international expansion and overall strategic growth of the NYSE.
John Thain, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Merrill Lynch, said, "We are very pleased to have Nelson Chai join the senior management team of Merrill Lynch. Nelson was a key advisor to me and the board of directors at NYSE. He played critical roles in the Euronext and Archipelago mergers and also has been instrumental in the development and execution of our international expansion and overall growth strategy, in addition to overseeing the finance-related operations at the company. I am very confident he will be a welcome and important contributor to our success at Merrill Lynch."
Chai was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of the NYSE Group, and prior to the merger of NYSE and Archipelago, was the chief financial officer of Archipelago since June 2000. Prior to joining Archipelago, Chai was Senior Vice President of Business Development and a member of the executive committee of Dade Behring, Inc., a manufacturer of medical diagnostics products. Chai's association with Dade Behring began in 1997 as Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Field Finance with responsibilities for the finance organization for all company business operations. Chai in the past has also been involved with AlliedSignal and Philip Morris.
With a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, the 42-year-old Chai is a board member of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the U.S.-India Business Council and the National Stock Exchange of India.
Commenting on the appointment, John Thain, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Merrill Lynch, observed "We are very pleased to have Nelson Chai join the senior management team of Merrill Lynch. Nelson was a key advisor to me and the board of directors at NYSE. He played critical roles in the Euronext and Archipelago mergers and also has been instrumental in the development and execution of our international expansion and overall growth strategy, in addition to overseeing the finance-related operations at the company. I am very confident he will be a welcome and important contributor to our success at Merrill Lynch."
Edwards' association with Merrill Lynch started in 1987 and previously headed investment banking for the Americas region, with responsibilities for the firm's origination activities for corporate, financial and sovereign clients in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Merrill Lynch expects to make an announcement regarding Edwards' new operating role at the firm shortly.
Thain said, "Jeff has been a key contributor to the building of our investment banking franchise and his 20 years of experience at Merrill Lynch make him a valued member of management here. I look forward to benefiting from that experience as we move forward."
On November 14, 2007, the world's largest brokerage Merrill Lynch, identified John Thain as its new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, replacing the long serving Stan O'Neal. Neal was forced to quit after having served the firm for over 21 years, following the sub-prime market turmoil in which Merrill Lynch had to write down $8.4 billion in the third quarter. Merrill Lynch also recorded a net loss for the third quarter for the first time in six years and the biggest in its 93-year history.
MER closed Monday's regular trading at $59.06, down $0.88 or 1.47%, on a volume of 13.56 million shares on the NYSE. In after-hours trading, the stock further gained $0.30 or 0.51%, trading at $59.36. In the past 52-week period, the stock traded in a range of $50.50 - $98.68, with a three-month average volume of 20.08 million shares.
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