JPMorgan Chase kicked off yet another horse race to succeed chief executive Jamie Dimon — as the previous frontrunner to lead the nation’s biggest bank abruptly retired.
Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, who have jointly run the bank’s Commercial & Investment Bank since early 2024, were named co-presidents of the Wall Street giant effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing.
Meanwhile, Marianne Lake –who previously had been viewed as a leading candidate to succeed the bank’s legendary CEO — is retiring. The 56-year-old financier — a 25-year JPMorgan veteran who was tapped a year ago to run the bank’s strategic growth office — didn’t provide a statement when the bank announced the reshuffle on Thursday.
Lake is said to be “not happy” about being passed over for the top job, according to sources. Dimon is expected to remain CEO for the next three years, a source close to the situation told The Post.
Although Lake has been widely praised for her mastery of financial data and her rapport with investors, she has also faced “criticism and negative feedback from her direct reports on her management style,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
Lake’s “personnel issues weren’t determinative in the board’s thinking on who should be promoted,” the paper said. A “procession of employees formed outside of Lake’s office on Thursday to wish her well,” and Lake “expects that she will eventually take a new job as a corporate executive,” the Journal reported, citing sources.
Lake didn’t respond to requests for comment. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.
Jennifer Piepszak, JPM’s chief operating officer, had previously been seen as a possible successor to Dimon alongside 56-year-old Lake, but withdrew her name from the running early last year, sources said.
“The changes announced today mark an important step in our Board’s thoughtful process around succession planning and development of our top leaders,” Dimon, 70, said in a statement, adding that the promotion of Rohrbaugh and Petno “reflects the Board’s confidence in their extraordinary leadership capabilities, business performance, relationships, experience and commitment to always doing the right thing.”
Petno, 61, will now serve as sole CEO of the Commercial & Investment Bank. Rohrbaugh, 56, will take over as CEO of Consumer & Community Banking, succeeding Lake.
To ensure a smooth transition, JPMorgan awarded top bankers one-time retention packages worth a combined $100 million in restricted stock. Petno and Rohrbaugh will each receive $30 million. Piepszak and Mary Erdoes, the head of JPM asset management and wealth management business, will each receive $20 million.
Of the two co-presidents named Thursday, analysts at Bank of America said Troy Rohrbaugh looks like the frontrunner to eventually succeed Dimon, “although this may not happen for several more years.”
Petno and Rohrbaugh each raked in an eye-popping $27.5 million in total compensation last year, according to the bank’s latest annual proxy statement. CEO Dimon picked up $43 million in a package that mixes cash and stock.
Johns Hopkins alum Rohrbaugh has worked more than 32 years in financial markets. He joined JPMorgan in 2005 as global head of Foreign Exchange Derivatives after roles at Goldman Sachs and Banque Nationale de Paris and previously was co-head of Markets & Securities Services and head of Macro Markets.
Petno, an MBA graduate from the University of Rochester, is a 35-year veteran at the firm. He most recently was co-head of Global Banking and served as CEO of Commercial Banking from 2012 to 2024. He earlier led the Global Natural Resources Investment Banking Group.
Dimon is expected to begin transitioning out of his role as CEO as early as this year, though he has always been vague about the timing and has left open the possibility he will remain chairman indefinitely.
Since taking over as CEO in 2006, Dimon has emerged as the most important banker in the country. JPM is a sprawling “systemically important” institution that does everything from consumer lending to mergers and acquisitions to trading complex derivatives that are the plumbing of the global financial system.
Dimon has successfully led the big bank through financial crises, small and large, such as the 2008 implosion, and jostled with presidents from Barack Obama to Donald Trump over policy. JPM has been largely scandal-free during his tenure and highly profitable.
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