Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".

Early life and education

Born in

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

, Corbat graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1983 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, where he also played

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tende ...

for the school's football team. He was two-time all

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

and was selected as first team

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term '' All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Footbal ...

NCAA Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate A ...

in 1982. He was the first Harvard player to be selected since Dan Jiggetts in 1975.

Career

Corbat worked at Citi or its predecessor companies for his entire career, starting with

Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York City. It was one of the five List of investment banks, largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitabl ...

. He served as Head of Citi's Global Corporate Bank and Global Commercial Bank and CEO of Citi's Global Wealth Management (consisting of

Smith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American Multinational corporation, multinational financial services corporation specializing in Broker, retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, ...

and the

Citi Private Bank Citi Private Bank is the private banking division of Citibank; it provides banking services to high-net-worth individuals, family offices, law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. ...

). As CEO of Citi Holdings, he was responsible for and led the divestiture of a portfolio of non-core business and assets after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and Citi's participation in the

Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. Presi ...

(TARP). In 2011, he was named CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa (

EMEA Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commonly known by its acronym EMEA among the North American business spheres, is a geographical region used by institutions, governments and global spheres of marketing, media and business when referring to t ...

) where he oversaw all Citi operations in the region. In October 2012, Mike Corbat was appointed CEO of Citi after Vikram Pandit's resignation. In September 2020,

announced Corbat's retirement, to be effective in February 2021. Jane Fraser was appointed to assume as CEO after Corbat, becoming the First Female CEO of a Top-Tier Investment Bank.

Issues addressed

In 2018 ''

'' wrote that "where Mr. Corbat can steer Citigroup directly, he is doing so." The issues he addressed included: *

Gender pay gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are Employment, employed. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct measurements of the pay gap: non ...

which he both defended, proclaiming that it inspires entry-level employee to work harder and advance, and concurrently described as "a challenge we need to tackle together." *

Bricks and Clicks Omnichannel retail strategy, originally also known in the U.K. as bricks and clicks, is a business model by which a company integrates both offline (''bricks'') and online (''clicks'') presences, sometimes with the third extra ''flips'' (physic ...

, which ''

Fortune Magazine ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...

'' described as "a broad physical branch network that caters to Baby Boomers and a robust online (and mobile) presence for Generation X and Millennials."

Leaving Citi

Corbat's annual salary was cut 21% as he was on his way out. His pay cut and departure happened after the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

and

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to corporate charter, charter, bank regulation ...

(OCC) fined Citigroup $400 million for its mismanagement.

Personal life

Corbat is an enthusiastic fly fisherman, golfer and downhill skier who self-describes as "an avid outdoorsman and responsible gun owner." He serves on the Citigroup Board of Directors, the EMI Board of Directors, BritishAmerican Business Board of Directors and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation Board of Trustees. He is married to Donna, and has two children; Brian and Allison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbat, Michael American bank presidents Citigroup employees Harvard Crimson football players Harvard University alumni Living people People from Bristol, Connecticut 1960 births