Craig Schiffer (August 25, 1956 – December 23, 2014) was the former

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 ...

of the Americas of Dresdner Kleinwort, based in New York, from 2003 to 2006. (In September 2009, after Dresdner Kleinwort was merged into

Commerzbank The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...

, Commerzbank decided to abandon use of the Dresdner Kleinwort name, although pending legal actions resulting from disputed bonus payments continue to keep the bank in the spotlight.) In February 2009, Schiffer founded Sevara Partners LLC, a boutique financial advisory firm based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

which serves clients in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Career

Schiffer joined Dresdner Kleinwort in London in 2001 as a managing director and executive committee member in the Global Debt business. Shortly after, he moved to the New York office to be Head of Capital Markets, North America, becoming Chief Executive in early 2003. Under his tenure, he successfully restructured the New York and Latin American businesses from a U.S. $300 million loss in 2002 to a net operating profit of almost U.S. $300 million (on a U.S. $600 million revenue base in 2006). Craig Schiffer oversaw both the continuing businesses at Dresdner Kleinwort and the Institutional Restructuring Unit, Dresdner's $9 billion “bad bank” in North America. Prior to Dresdner Kleinwort, Schiffer headed Nomura International’s European Fixed Income Division, overseeing all of the capital markets and derivative businesses. At Nomura, he led the business to bottom line profitability for the first time ever in fiscal year 1999–2000. Schiffer joined Nomura in August 1997 where he was originally responsible for restructuring Nomura's U.S. derivatives business, implementing robust risk management and achieving operating profitability. He then took on additional responsibility for Nomura's proprietary businesses in

, which grew considerably under his tenure. He was a member of the European Management Board at Nomura International, responsible for strategy and the daily operations of the European businesses. Prior to

Nomura Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

, Schiffer spent eighteen and a half years at

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

. He served in a variety of management roles in both

Fixed Income Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the pr ...

and

Equities Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion t ...

. As the Global Head of Equity Derivatives, Schiffer oversaw operations and concentrated on building the business, and before that, Schiffer was the Global Head of Fixed Income Derivatives (1992–1994), where he restructured and took the fixed income derivatives business from a marginal revenue producer and transformed it into one of the most profitable businesses at

Death

Schiffer was killed in an avalanche while skiing in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, on December 23, 2014.Craig Schiffer, Ex-Lehman Executive, Dies in Avalanche at 58
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References

External links

Sevara Partners LLC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiffer, Craig American bankers American chief executives of financial services companies 1956 births 2014 deaths People from Summit, New Jersey Natural disaster deaths in France Deaths in avalanches