Rise of the Native Son

OK, lame title, I know. But I have two finals and a term paper due tomorrow, and I wanted to get this quick post in. For those who don't have CNBC on at work, and even more so for those who don't know what CNBC is, today marks what I'd say is a pretty historic day for Indians in the Western business world. Earlier today, Citigroup named Vikram Pandit its new CEO, effective immediately.

Of course, there have been Indian CEO's of American companies before (including Indra Nooyi, who is CEO and ChairWOMAN of another huge American icon, PepsiCo). With few exceptions, however, none of these individuals have been very "public" figures, whether due to their Companies' small sizes, their own personalities, whatever. The reason I think this is historic is because of the public face that bank CEOs have with investors and with Wall Street generally (had there not been even bigger news in the markets today, I would have guaranteed that Pandit's picture would be plastered on the front page of tomorrow's Journal). Because of this, unlike even Nooyi, who runs a company worth over $120 billion, most people even remotely interested in the markets have known who Pandit is for several years, dating back to his tenure at Morgan Stanley.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm rooting for Pandit to succeed (full disclosure: I do not directly own Citi shares). No, I wasn't born in India. Hell, the most successful Indian businessperson I know personally, my dad, was born in Nairobi! But I have to imagine that his success, or lack thereof, will determine how wide doors open for Indian businesspeople in this country, regardless of where they were born. Citi, after all, was at one point the most valuable bank in the country (until a lawyer took over and basically ran it face-first into the ground). It'll be interesting to see what happens, as the Company is an absolute mess right now. Let's just hope the new Chairman ("Sir" Win, obviously) and the rest of the Board gives him time to clean it up. Go Vikram!!!