Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

. He succeeded

Sandy Weill Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy ...

as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chairman of the board in 2006. On November 4, 2007, he retired from both his chairman and chief executive duties due to unexpectedly poor 3rd quarter performance, mainly due to CDO and MBS related losses, while still receiving a $38m pay package.

Early life and education

Charles Owen Prince III was born in

Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 69,772, down from 69,845 at the 2000 census. Lynwood is located near South Gate and Compton in the central portion of the Los Angeles ...

on 13 January 1950 to Charles Owen Prince II and Mary Doyle. Prince went to the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Marshall School of Business The USC Marshall School of Business is the business school of the University of Southern California. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In 1997 the school was renamed following a $35 million donation fr ...

for his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

. He continued his education, going on to receive a

Master of Law A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mo ...

s degree from

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

Career

Prince started his career as an attorney with U.S. Steel Corp in 1975. In 1979, he joined Commercial Credit Company, a predecessor to Citigroup that Sandy Weill took over in 1986. He was promoted in 1996 to executive vice president of the firm, which at this point, was known as the

Travelers Group The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...

. In 2000, shortly following the 1998 merger of Travelers and Citigroup, Prince was named

chief administrative officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance. Government and non-profit A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...

of the newly created firm, Citigroup. He was subsequently promoted to

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

in 2001, to chairman and chief executive of Citi Markets and Banking in 2002, and finally to chairman and chief executive.

Credit crisis

On Sunday, 4 November 2007, Prince resigned from his post as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

due to the failing mortgage industry. He was replaced by Vikram Pandit as the

, and by

Robert Rubin Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...

as its chairman. Prince left with an exit bonus valued at $12.5 million, in addition to the $68 million he received in stock and options he had accumulated during his career, together with a $1.7 million pension, an office, car and driver for up to five years. During his tenure, the market value of Citigroup dropped by $64 billion. He is still a consultant with Citigroup. In 2008,

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

named Charles Prince as one of eight economic leaders "who didn't eethe crisis coming", noting his overly optimistic statements in July 2007. In January 2009,

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

city editor Julia Finch identified him as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown. Prince famously said about Citigroup's continued commitment to leveraged buy-out deals, despite fears of reduced liquidity because of the occurring sub-prime meltdown: "As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance."

Personal life

Prince is currently married to Margaret L. Wolff. The couple was wed on September 20, 2003, at

The Pierre Hotel The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze & Weaver, the hotel opened in 1930 with 100+ employees, n ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Semi-retired Judge

Robert W. Sweet Robert Workman Sweet (October 15, 1922 – March 24, 2019) was an American jurist and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and career Sweet was born on October 15, 1 ...

presided over the ceremonies.

Affiliations

Prince serves in the influential trade group the

Financial Services Forum The Financial Services Forum is an American, non-partisan economic policy and advocacy organization whose members are the chief executive officers of the eight largest and most diversified financial institutions headquartered in the United Stat ...

, as well as a member of the

Council of Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York City ...

, the

Business Roundtable The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major United States companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, B ...

, and several other organizations. Along with his directorship on the Citigroup board, Prince has served as a member of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

's board since February 13, 2006. He also serves as a trustee for several education institutions including

Weill Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

Teachers College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, and

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. Prince formerly was a Senior Counselor to

Albright Stonebridge Group Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly Albright Stonebridge Group, is a global business strategy firm based in Washington, D.C., United States. It was created in 2009 through the merger of international consulting firms The Albright Group, found ...

References

External links

Charles Owen Prince III
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Charles Owen Prince III
at

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Charles People from Lynwood, California American chief executives of financial services companies Citigroup employees University of Southern California alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni 1950 births Living people American chief operating officers USC Gould School of Law alumni