John Mack, Morgan Stanley's CEO and Chairman, Faces New Pressure To Give Up Dual Role

John Mack, CEO and Chairman of Morgan Stanley, just found the pressure increase a bit more on his status as dual CEO and Chairman.  Back on March 13, I wrote a blog that referred to a story by Jed Horowitz of Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal on pressure being applied by the CtW investment group that would force Mack to give up his dual role.  Earlier today in a story by Christine Harper, Bloomberg reported,

The California State Teachers' Retirement System withheld votes for eight Morgan Stanley board members, including Chairman John Mack, because the company has underperformed both the market and peers.

... CalSTRS, the second-largest U.S. public pension fund, is the first shareholder to publicly withhold a vote for Mack after the firm reported its first-ever quarterly loss last year amid writedowns related to subprime mortgages. Morgan Stanley has urged shareholders to support Mack, 63, saying he "moved quickly and aggressively to address the issues.''

The company's annual meeting is scheduled for April 8th.  Stay tuned

For more:

Financial Times

Financial Week