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Grasso unique among NYSE chairmen
From CNNfn's Allan Chernoff
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Richard Grasso was unique among chairmen of the New York Stock Exchange. The 57–year-old comes from a working class background and never graduated college. He is also the only person in the 211-year history of the institution to rise from the ranks of its employees to chairman. After two years in the army Grasso landed a job in 1968 as a clerk at the exchange, and from there his career took off as he steadily climbed the corporate ladder to the top in 1995. During his 36 years at the exchange, Grasso rose to what many have said was one of the best hands-on executives the big board ever had. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson ought to know. When he was chairman, Grasso was his number two. "Mr. Grasso has been in my view a superb manager of the New York Stock Exchange," Donaldson said. Grasso led the exchange to great success. He modernized the big board's trading system, fought off challenges from the technology-laden NASDAQ and attracted dozens of new listings He also made the exchange more visible than ever, often inviting celebrities, from supermodels to cartoon characters, to ring the opening bell. Grasso has been praised for quickly re-opening Wall Street after the World Trade Center terror attacks and keeping the exchange in business after New York's blackout this summer. But what he, and his board of directors, failed to accomplish was a thorough change in the exchange's corporate governance. Political leaders, such as presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards, went so far as to say the exchange "operated like a clubhouse, with no accountability to anybody except itself." "Instead of setting an example for corporate America, the board has become a symbol of what's wrong at too many corporations." As the stock exchange called for listed companies to improve their accountability, Grasso's institution remained opaque -- even to its own members. When the Board extended Grasso's contract in August and made public the $140 million deferred compensation and retirement package it had granted him, it blew up in his face. Even his refusal to accept an additional $48 million due to him failed to quash the controversy.
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