Mitchell M. Merin (born August 1953) is an American

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

and

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

who served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

division (MSIM) from 1998 to 2005.

Early life and education

Merin was born in August 1953 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in Economics from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in 1975 and an MBA in finance and accounting from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1977.

Early career and Dean Witter

Merin's first job was as an auditor for

Touche Ross Touché or Touche may refer to: Sports * Touché (fencing), French for "touched", a term used to acknowledge a hit Arts and entertainment * ''Touché'' (Hush album), by Australian band Hush, 1977 * ''Touché'' (Ryan Stout album), by comedian ...

, at the time one of the Big Eight accounting firms. After working on the

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

account for Touche Ross, Merin joined Sears in May 1981 as a manager of financial analysis. While working on Sears' bid to acquire

Dean Witter Reynolds Dean Witter Reynolds was an American Brokerage firm, stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account execu ...

, Merin met Philip Purcell in 1981, at the time Sears' senior vice president for corporate administration. Together, they launched the

Discover Card Discover is a credit card brand issued primarily in the United States. It was introduced by Sears in 1985 and currently issued by Capital One. Discover was the first credit card that did not charge an annual fee and offered a higher-than-norm ...

in 1985, and when Purcell became CEO of Dean Witter in 1986 he quickly named Merin treasurer and gave him a mandate to serve as a liaison between Purcell and other Sears' executives. In 1993 Dean Witter was spun off by Sears into a separate entity, and Purcell was made head of the new company. Purcell appointed Merin to key positions within the company, including chief administrative officer, chief strategist, executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Merin's final role within Dean Witter was to help oversee the 1997 merger of the company with

Career at Morgan Stanley

After the departure of James Allwin in December 1998 Merin was named president and

(COO) of the new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's asset management division, despite the fact that Merin did not have a background in asset management. Because of Morgan Stanley's recent mergers and acquisitions, the firm contained four independently operating asset management units that had previously competed with one another and were reluctant to unify under the Morgan Stanley brand. Merin was tasked with unifying these operations, and by the end of 2000 had overseen a large increase in asset growth and a 10% reduction in expenses, making the division one of the firm's most profitable businesses by 2005. Following the unification of these business divisions, Merin attempted to position the funds for more international growth, but encountered difficulty as personnel changes and poor market conditions limited the growth the division was able to achieve, and regulators took action against illegal fund sales and inappropriate incentivization of in-house funds.

Exit from Morgan Stanley

Although a close ally of Purcell, and once considered a candidate to replace him as

CEO 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 Morgan Stanley, Merin's frequent transitions between businesses limited his ability to build the alliances necessary to become CEO himself. Under pressure from Morgan Stanley shareholders, Merin announced his retirement in 2005. He was succeeded within the investment management division by Owen D. Thomas.

Outside Morgan Stanley

Merin served on several boards and industry committees. He was Chairman of the

National Association of Securities Dealers The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associati ...

Investment Companies committee and Fixed Income Securities committee. In 2012 Merin was named a

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

fund board trustee, where he worked on the Audit and Valuation Committee, and chaired the Money Market and Alternative Products Committee. He also served as a Trustee of Trinity College, and chaired its audit committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merin, Mitchell M. American chief operating officers 1953 births Living people Morgan Stanley employees JPMorgan Chase people