Michael E. O'Neill (born October 31, 1946) is an American business executive. He served as chairman of Citigroup from 2012 to 2019.

Early life and education

O'Neill was born in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, and spent much of his early life in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. He graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in European Civilization in 1969 and served as a lieutenant in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

between 1969 and 1971. He received an MBA in 1974 from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

Career

In 1974, O’Neill joined

Continental Illinois The Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company was at one time the seventh-largest commercial bank in the United States as measured by deposits, with approximately $40 billion in assets. In 1984, Continental Illinois became the largest ...

. He moved to First Interstate Capital Markets in 1984 and returned to Continental in 1989 to manage its

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

advisory business, becoming

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

in 1992. After Continental was acquired by

BankAmerica The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

, he became head of its global equity investments division from 1994 to 1995. From 1995 to 1999 he was BankAmerica's CFO. In 1999 he became chief executive of

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

but resigned after two months because he had developed an arrhythmic heartbeat. From 2000 to 2004 he was chairman and CEO of

Bank of Hawaii The Bank of Hawaii Corporation ( haw, Panakō o Hawaii; abbreviated BOH) is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that the majority of the voting sto ...

. In 2009 he became a member of Citigroup's board of directors, and in September 2011, he became chairman of the bank's Citibank NA division, and was named chairman in March 2012. He retired in 2019.

Resignation of Vikram Pandit

On October 16, 2012, then CEO Vikram Pandit unexpectedly resigned and was replaced by

Michael Corbat Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades". Early life and ...

. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' later identified O'Neill as the driving force behind a months-long secret effort to oust Pandit, which culminated in a surprise ultimatum to Pandit stating that he must resign immediately, resign at the end of the year, or be fired. His resignation followed multiple payouts to investors during ongoing fraud allegations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Michael E. Directors of Citigroup People from Santa Monica, California Princeton University alumni University of Virginia Darden School of Business alumni American chief executives of financial services companies American chairpersons of corporations Living people 1946 births American chief financial officers