Stan O'Neal

Stan O'Neal is the former CEO of Merrill Lynch. He was previously a member of the General Motors Board of Directors. He orginally joined Merrill Lynch in 1986, as and became the companies CFO in 1998. He was the firm's president by 2001, and in 2003 he became Chairman and CEO. He announced his retirement from the firm in 2007, following an announced $12.8 billion loss. Alberto Criboire was named interim CEO after he stepped down from his position on October 30, 2007. O'Neal left the firm with a compensation package valued at $161.5 million.

Key Dates

Structure like a mini time line. Include the 5-10 of the most important dates in this person's life. For example:

1974: General Motors Institute Industrial Administration Degree

1978: MBA Harvard Business School

1986: Merrill Lynch division manager

1998: Merrill Lynch CFO

2001: Merrill Lynch President

2003: Merrill Lynch CEO & Chairman

2007: Retires

Professional Profile

O'Neil began as an analyst for General Motors, and quickly worked his way up to become the director of GM's treasury department. He joined Merrill Lynch at the age of 35. He worked as the lead of the leveraged finance division, and as the head of capital markets, before spending two years as the companies CFO. During O'Neil's tenure as CEO, the firm recorded a $9.8 billion profit in 2006, which translated to a $48 million payout for O'Neil.

Fast Facts

October 2007: Merrill Lynch reported a third-quarter net loss of $2.2 billion after writing off $8.4 billion of mortgages, collateralized debt obligations and loans

Earlier in 2007: O'Neal and other Merrill executives said the subprime mortgage crisis appeared to be overblown

Merrill elected Alberto Cribiore as interim non-executive chairman

Cribiore will head a search committee to find a new chief executive