James P. Gorman

Gorman was born in Melbourne, Australia. His family is of Irish ancestry. He was the sixth of 10 children; Gorman was educated at Xavier College, a Catholic boarding school for boys in Melbourne. He moved to the United States to obtain a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, which he completed in 1987. ==Career==

Early career In 1982, he joined the law firm Phillips Fox and Masel (now DLA Piper). After graduating from Columbia Business School in New York City in 1987, At McKinsey he worked on the Merrill Lynch account for ten years, and helped develop Merrill's online internet strategy. In 1999, he joined Merrill Lynch in the newly created role of chief marketing officer. Within two years, he was in charge of Merrill's brokerage business. with Gorman overseeing wealth management and asset management and Chammah overseeing institutional securities. In September 2009, it was announced that Gorman would become CEO of Morgan Stanley in January 2010. He assumed the additional title of chairman in January 2012 following the retirement of John J. Mack. In 2014 he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets Magazine. In January 2020, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) that recognizes Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement. Gorman said he was "honoured to receive this award and extremely proud to represent Australia abroad", adding, "While most of my working life has been in the US my heart remains firmly Australian." In 2020, Morgan Stanley announced two multibillion-dollar acquisitions of E*trade Financial Corp. and Eaton Vance Corp. Gorman spoke at the November 2022 inaugural Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit. The Hong Kong Democracy Council claimed that his presence, along with other financial executives, legitimized the Hong Kong government's whitewashing of the erosion of freedoms in the city. Several members of Congress also warned that US financial executives should not attend the Summit, saying "Their presence only serves to legitimise the swift dismantling of Hong Kong's autonomy, free press and the rule of law by Hong Kong authorities acting along with the Chinese Communist Party." In May 2023, Gorman announced his forthcoming retirement as CEO of Morgan Stanley. He was succeeded as CEO by Ted Pick on January 1, 2024, while remaining executive chairman of the firm's board. In May 2024, Gorman announced he would retire as Chairman at the end of the year. On October 24, 2024, it was announced that CEO Ted Pick would succeed Gorman as Chairman. The Walt Disney Company In October 2024, the Walt Disney Company announced that Gorman would become its new chairman, starting on January 2, 2025. ==Board memberships==

Outside of Morgan Stanley, Gorman serves as a director of the Walt Disney Company, a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, chair of the board of overseers of the Columbia Business School, and is a member of the Business Council. He formerly served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, president of the Federal Advisory Council to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, co-chairman of the Partnership for New York City, co-chairman the business committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ==Personal life==

Gorman passed the US citizenship test in 2004, and is a dual citizen of Australia and the United States. He lives in Manhattan and has two adult children. ==References==