- Morgan Stanley's hard-charging trading boss Ted Pick is set to succeed CEO James Gorman.
- Gorman announced his plans to retire in May, kicking off a race to replace him.
- The bank has promoted Pick's rivals, wealth manager Andy Saperstein and investment head Dan Simkowitz.
Five months after Morgan Stanley's James Gorman announced he was stepping down, the pick is in.
Investment bank boss Edward "Ted" Pick will take the reins as chief executive starting January 1, 2024, Morgan Stanley's board of directors announced Wednesday evening.
The announcement ends the race to succeed current CEO James Gorman.
"Ted is a strategic leader with a strong track record of building and growing our client franchise, developing and retaining talent, allocating capital with sound risk management, and carrying forward our culture and values," Tom Glocer, lead director of the board, said.
54-year-old Pick is credited with transforming Morgan Stanley's key equities and fixed-income businesses. He has spent his entire career at the bank, earning a reputation as a rough-edged "deal junkie" with a penchant for swearing, Insider reported earlier this year.
Gorman, who took over in 2010, has been determined to have a bloodless succession race where all the CEO contenders stayed at the bank. Morgan Stanley has promoted Pick's rivals, wealth manager Andy Saperstein and investment management head Dan Simkowitz.
Simkowitz is taking over the institutional securities group from Pick, having spent two decades in the division before taking over the money-management unit in 2015. The Harvard graduate has also been elevated to co-president of the firm.
With Simkowitz moving to the investment bank, Saperstein will oversee the asset management unit in addition to the $4.2 trillion wealth business.
Saperstein, an affable Disney World-loving banker, was widely seen as Pick's main competition. He has been Gorman's protégé since the 90s' when they both worked at McKinsey. The Staten Island native emerged more recently as a serious contender due to the success of Morgan Stanley's wealth unit, which has buoyed the bank with steady fee-based revenue during this dealmaking lull.
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