JPMorgan Names 2 Potential CEO Successors as Co-Presidents

JPMorgan Chase has promoted two executives to potentially succeed longtime Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, co-CEOs of the bank’s commercial and investment bank business (CIB), have been named co-presidents of the country’s largest lender, JPMorgan announced in a Thursday (June 25) news release.

In addition to these new roles, Petno will become sole CEO of the CIB, while Rohrbaugh will become chief of JPMorgan’s consumer and community banking (CCB) division.

“The promotions of Petno and Rohrbaugh to co-presidents and sole CEOs of the company’s two largest businesses are part of the board’s ongoing succession planning process to ensure continued exceptional leadership at the highest levels of the company,” the release added.

Meanwhile, Marianne Lake, currently CEO of CCB, has chosen to retire from the company after more than 25 years, the company said, and will work with Rohrbaugh and other senior executives in the weeks ahead to allow for a smooth transition.

“The changes announced today mark an important step in our board’s thoughtful process around succession planning and development of our top leaders,” Dimon said.

“The decision to elevate Doug and Troy to co-presidents and heads of the company’s two largest businesses reflects the board’s confidence in their extraordinary leadership capabilities, business performance, relationships, experience and commitment to always doing the right thing,” he added.

The CEO also noted Lake’s contributions as head of CCB, chief financial officer and other critical roles, having “dedicated her career to championing our people and customers, building world-class businesses and delivering results, always with unquestioned integrity.”

Lake had emerged as a potential CEO candidate in 2018, at a time when Dimon was expected to step down within five years. He has said as recently as last summer that his retirement is still several years away. A report from that time by the Wall Street Journal also mentioned Petno as a possible contender for the top job.

PYMNTS wrote last month about Dimon’s leadership philosophy in a report on how CEOs view their roles, noting that chief executives in the finance world “tend to talk about the job with less hoodie mysticism and more controlled alarm.”

Dimon told Harvard Business School graduates that when he makes a mistake, he can hurt a lot of people, “a blunt reminder that at JPMorgan scale, ‘oops’ is not a communications plan,” the report continued.

“He also advised leaders to surround themselves with truth tellers, which is basically the Wall Street version of buying carbon monoxide detectors,” PYMNTS added.