Richard Parsons
Encyclopedia
Richard Dean Parsons is the current chairman of Citigroup
and the former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner
. He stepped down as CEO of Time Warner on December 31, 2007.
, New York
on April 4, 1948 to an electrical technician and a homemaker. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. He skipped a grade in elementary school and another in high school. He later attended the University of Hawaii
, where at 6'4" tall he played varsity basketball
. After four years, he was six credits short of his diploma. However, he discovered that he could get into a law school in New York without a college degree if he scored well enough on his pre-law exams. Parson was accepted by Albany Law School
, where he earned a Juris Doctor
in 1971, finishing at the top of his class.
. When Rockefeller was appointed Vice President of the United States
, in 1974, Parsons followed him to Washington D.C., where he worked directly with President Gerald Ford
. He also met a deputy attorney general, Harold R. Tyler, and one of his aides, a young Rudolph W. Giuliani, with whom he was to be closely associated - supporting him in his campaign for New York mayor and heading his transitional council.
In 1977, Parsons returned to New York and became a partner after only two years at the Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler law firm; also working at the firm was Giuliani. During his eleven years at the firm he took on Happy Rockefeller
, the widow of Nelson (who had died in 1979) as a high-profile client. In 1988, he was recruited to serve as chief operating officer of the Dime Savings Bank of New York
by CEO
Harry W. Albright Jr., who was a former Rockefeller aide. He later became Chairman and CEO and oversaw a merger with Anchor Savings Bank; gaining a substantial sum when the Dime Bank was demutualized
.
Three years later, in 1991, on the recommendation of Nelson's brother Laurance Rockefeller
to the then CEO Steven Ross, Parsons was invited to join Time Warner's board; he subsequently became president of the company in 1995, recruited by Gerald Levin. He helped negotiate the company's merger with America Online in 2000, creating a $165-billion media conglomerate
.
In December 2001, it was announced that chief executive Gerald Levin would retire and Parsons was selected as his successor. The announcement surprised many media watchers who expected chief operating officer Robert Pittman
to take the helm. In 2003, Parsons made the announcement of the name change from AOL Time Warner to simply Time Warner.
Parsons became chairman of Citigroup on 23 February 2009.
. He has worked with the Jazz Foundation to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina
.
estate in Pocantico Hills, (see Kykuit
), where his grandfather was once a groundskeeper. For a brief time he had worked for Nelson at the family office, Room 5600, at Rockefeller Center
(he currently has a Time Warner office in Rockefeller Plaza at the Center).
Parsons is chairman emeritus of the Partnership for New York City, established by David Rockefeller
in 1979, who has known him for many years. He is an advisory trustee of the family's principal philanthropy, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
and he sits with David Rockefeller on the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Parsons is also on the board of the family created Museum of Modern Art
.
In 2001, United States President George W. Bush
selected Parsons to co-chair a commission on Social Security
. Parsons also worked on the transition team for Michael Bloomberg
, who was elected Mayor of New York City
in 2001. In 2006, Parsons was selected to co-chair the transition team for the incoming Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer
.
In August 2006, an article in New York Magazine reported that Parsons would likely run for Mayor of New York City in the 2009 New York mayoral election
. Parsons, however, repeatedly denied the reports, supported Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to repeal the term limits law and supported Bloomberg for a third term in office.
Parsons is now a member of the economic advisory team for President Barack Obama
. He met with the then President-elect on Friday, November 7, 2008, along with many other economic experts, to discuss measures to solve the current economic crisis. After New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration for the position of Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration, Parsons's name was floated as a possible nominee.
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
and the former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. He stepped down as CEO of Time Warner on December 31, 2007.
Early life
Parsons was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on April 4, 1948 to an electrical technician and a homemaker. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. He skipped a grade in elementary school and another in high school. He later attended the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, where at 6'4" tall he played varsity basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. After four years, he was six credits short of his diploma. However, he discovered that he could get into a law school in New York without a college degree if he scored well enough on his pre-law exams. Parson was accepted by Albany Law School
Albany Law School
Albany Law School is an ABA accredited law school based in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 by Amos Dean , Amasa Parker, Ira Harris and others....
, where he earned a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1971, finishing at the top of his class.
Career
In 1971, Parsons served an internship at the New York State Legislature, at which time he was invited to work as a lawyer for the staff of the then New York Governor Nelson RockefellerNelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
. When Rockefeller was appointed Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, in 1974, Parsons followed him to Washington D.C., where he worked directly with President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. He also met a deputy attorney general, Harold R. Tyler, and one of his aides, a young Rudolph W. Giuliani, with whom he was to be closely associated - supporting him in his campaign for New York mayor and heading his transitional council.
In 1977, Parsons returned to New York and became a partner after only two years at the Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler law firm; also working at the firm was Giuliani. During his eleven years at the firm he took on Happy Rockefeller
Margaretta Fitler Murphy Rockefeller
Margaretta Large Fitler Murphy Rockefeller , known as Happy Rockefeller, is the widow of Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller , who was the 41st Vice President of the United States of America and a Governor of New York...
, the widow of Nelson (who had died in 1979) as a high-profile client. In 1988, he was recruited to serve as chief operating officer of the Dime Savings Bank of New York
Dime Savings Bank of New York
The Dime Savings Bank of New York, originally Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn operated from 1859 to the late 20th century. It is not to be confused with Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, also in Brooklyn...
by CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
Harry W. Albright Jr., who was a former Rockefeller aide. He later became Chairman and CEO and oversaw a merger with Anchor Savings Bank; gaining a substantial sum when the Dime Bank was demutualized
Demutualization
Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, members of a mutual usually receive a "windfall" payout, in the form...
.
Three years later, in 1991, on the recommendation of Nelson's brother Laurance Rockefeller
Laurance Rockefeller
Laurance Spelman Rockefeller was a venture capitalist, financier, philanthropist, a major conservationist and a prominent third-generation member of the Rockefeller family. He was the fourth child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and brother to John D...
to the then CEO Steven Ross, Parsons was invited to join Time Warner's board; he subsequently became president of the company in 1995, recruited by Gerald Levin. He helped negotiate the company's merger with America Online in 2000, creating a $165-billion media conglomerate
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
.
In December 2001, it was announced that chief executive Gerald Levin would retire and Parsons was selected as his successor. The announcement surprised many media watchers who expected chief operating officer Robert Pittman
Robert W. Pittman
Robert Warren "Bob" Pittman , is an American businessman and the founder of MTV. On October 2, 2011, Pittman was named CEO of Clear Channel Media Holdings, Inc.. Pittman has also been the CEO of MTV Networks, AOL, Six Flags Theme Parks, Quantum Media, Century 21 Real Estate and Time Warner...
to take the helm. In 2003, Parsons made the announcement of the name change from AOL Time Warner to simply Time Warner.
Parsons became chairman of Citigroup on 23 February 2009.
Humanitarian Causes
In 2007 Richard Parsons became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jazz Foundation of AmericaJazz Foundation of America
The Jazz Foundation of America is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York founded in 1989. The JFA’s programs help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunities in schools and the community...
. He has worked with the Jazz Foundation to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
Prominent connections
From the early 1980s through much of the 1990s, Parsons owned a house at Rockefeller familyRockefeller family
The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
estate in Pocantico Hills, (see Kykuit
Kykuit
Kykuit , also known as John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room National Trust house in Westchester County, New York, built by the oil businessman, philanthropist and founder of the prominent Rockefeller family, John D. Rockefeller, and his son, John D...
), where his grandfather was once a groundskeeper. For a brief time he had worked for Nelson at the family office, Room 5600, at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
(he currently has a Time Warner office in Rockefeller Plaza at the Center).
Parsons is chairman emeritus of the Partnership for New York City, established by David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
in 1979, who has known him for many years. He is an advisory trustee of the family's principal philanthropy, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...
and he sits with David Rockefeller on the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Parsons is also on the board of the family created Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
In 2001, United States President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
selected Parsons to co-chair a commission on Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
. Parsons also worked on the transition team for Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, who was elected Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
in 2001. In 2006, Parsons was selected to co-chair the transition team for the incoming Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
.
In August 2006, an article in New York Magazine reported that Parsons would likely run for Mayor of New York City in the 2009 New York mayoral election
New York City mayoral election, 2009
The 2009 election for Mayor of New York City took place on Tuesday, November 3. The incumbent Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, an independent who left the Republican Party in 2008, won reelection on the Republican and Independence Party/Jobs & Education lines with 50.7% of the vote over the retiring City...
. Parsons, however, repeatedly denied the reports, supported Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to repeal the term limits law and supported Bloomberg for a third term in office.
Parsons is now a member of the economic advisory team for President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. He met with the then President-elect on Friday, November 7, 2008, along with many other economic experts, to discuss measures to solve the current economic crisis. After New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration for the position of Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration, Parsons's name was floated as a possible nominee.
See also
- Time WarnerTime WarnerTime Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
- Rockefeller CenterRockefeller CenterRockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
- Nelson RockefellerNelson RockefellerNelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
- David RockefellerDavid RockefellerDavid Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
- Rockefeller familyRockefeller familyThe Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
External links
- Richard D. Parsons, biography at the Time Warner corporate Web site
- Richard Parsons biography, at the Encyclopedia of World Biography