Shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Morgan Stanley co-President Ted Pick was asked to join his boss in the board room.
"I thought it was a good idea to join him — and to grab my jacket," he said.
Pick, 54, was greeted with a standing ovation and the news that he would succeed James Gorman, 65, as CEO. The Morgan Stanley lifer had won Wall Street's most closely watched succession race and is taking the helm of a bank in a far different position than when Gorman ascended following the financial collapse of 2008.
"James is the architect of transforming the firm," Pick said in his first interview after the selection was announced. "He had a singular vision for the place, and over 15 years took us from near bankruptcy to a winning place."
Pick views his job as maintaining the firm's direction and expects no big change in plans.
Gorman cited Pick's track record of accomplishing difficult turnaround tasks, and his experience in risk management, client relations and technology oversight for what made him the board's unanimous choice. Pick revamped Morgan Stanley's equities-trading business in the wake of the financial collapse and then later repaired its struggling fixed-income unit.
"He'll tell you what he thinks, he's passionate and he has a tremendous following within this firm," Gorman said in the interview. "He's a world-class executive, and he understands our culture."
In a rare setup, the firm said the two men who missed out on the top job will stay on. Co-President Andy Saperstein will gain oversight of the firm's asset-management business in addition to his role leading wealth management, and Dan Simkowitz will replace Pick as co-president leading the investment-banking and trading division.
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The two deputies are also long-time Morgan Stanley veterans. Saperstein, 56, started under Gorman at the consulting giant McKinsey and was with him at Merrill Lynch before following him to Morgan Stanley in 2006. Simkowitz, 58, started his career at the bank in 1990 and ran capital markets before moving to run the asset-management division.
"This doesn't happen on Wall Street — people don't stay. Every bloody pundit said this wouldn't happen, but we pulled it off," Gorman said. "It's a testament to their respect for Ted in this role."
