News that Jim Quigley was to become the new CEO of Deloitte, the world’s second-largest professional services firm, spread like wildfire across the dealing rooms of New York and beyond.
“Have you seen the news about Jimmy Quigley?” one senior investment bank exec, who used to run a debt syndicate department in the 1990s and knows Quigley well, asked Euromoney’s journalists over lunch.
We had. And fortunately we had spotted that, hard as it is to believe, there are in fact two Jim Quigleys plying their trade in the exalted offices of Wall Street.
“Thank heavens you’re here; I was about to call him and make a complete ass of myself,” said the senior banker.
We try to help. Indeed Quigley’s star continues to rise at Merrill: in addition to being vice-chairman of the executive client coverage group, and head of Latin America, James B Quigley recently added chairman of Merrill Lynch International to his portfolio of titles.
Once the rumour mill had died down, people were able to fully appreciate the nature of Deloitte’s press release announcing the other Quigley’s ascension to the Deloitte throne.
“New CEO James H Quigley redefines ‘best’,” the announcement trumpeted. This was worrying for Euromoney’s editors, who at the time were in the process of choosing the ‘best’ banks in over 100 countries for our Awards for Excellence.
The panic soon subsided, as ‘H’ Quigley revealed such gems as: “It may be a cliché to many but, to me, our people are our greatest asset.”
It may well be; but who’s the ‘best’ Jim Quigley, H or B?
