Bandon man is appointed president of Morgan Stanley

By Kieran O’Mahony  

BANDON native Colm Kelleher was recently appointed president of leading global financial services firm, Morgan Stanley and CEO of Morgan Stanley International.

The 58-year-old former salesman, who comes from a family of nine children, spent a large part of his youth in England and he currently lives in London.

Having graduated with a MA degree in History from Oxford University, he also qualified as a chartered accountant at Arthur Andersen & Co. 

He joined Morgan Stanley in 1989 and was elected managing director in 1996. 

Following this role he was appointed as the firm’s chief financial officer and co-head of Corporate Strategy, which he held from October 2007 to December 2009. He was at helm of the firm during the financial crisis, between 2007 and 2009, and managed to help reduce the company’s balance sheet by a significant amount.

His steady rise in one of the world’s leading global financial services then saw him assume the role of President of Morgan Stanley Institutional Securities, before he was appointed President of Morgan Stanley last week.

His new appointment means he is the second most powerful executive at the company, and is second only to the current chief executive, James Gorman.

Colm’s basic salary in 2014 was .8m and following his new appointment, this will significantly increase, as he becomes one of the most important executives in the bank.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, serves on the board of Americans for Oxford and is also a member of Oxford Vice-Chancellor’s Circle, TheCityUK Advisory Council and the British Museum Advisory Board.

Colm will be back in Ireland at the end of the month, as he will be attending the Building the Future of European Financial Services event, which will be held in Dublin Castle. 

He has been confirmed as one the speakers of the one-day event organised by the IDA and the Financial Times, which is expected to draw several hundred delegates to the Dublin city centre venue.

Morgan Stanley operates in 42 countries and has more than 1300 offices and 60,000 employees.

The company had ,454 bn of assets under management in 2014.