Joe J. Plumeri

Joseph J. Plumeri II (born July 7, 1943) is vice chairman of the First Data Board of Directors. He was the chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings (Willis), a New York Stock Exchange-listed insurance broker, until July 2013. The company has 17,000 employees in 400 offices, located in 120 countries. As of June 2010, Willis had the third-highest insurance brokerage revenues in the world.

Plumeri worked for Citigroup from 1968 to 2000. During that time he held the roles of president and managing partner of Shearson Lehman Brothers, president of Smith Barney, vice chairman of Travelers, chairman and CEO of Primerica, and CEO of Citibank, North America. A philanthropist, he has made multimillion-dollar gifts to The College of William & Mary and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. He was raised in North Trenton, New Jersey, in a working-class family. Speaking of his father, he said: "He never quit, and he always saw the good in everything. He was a dreamer, and because of my father ... I have an affection for people who are passionate."

Plumeri attended Trenton Catholic High School and Bordentown Military Institute (1962). He then studied at The College of William & Mary, graduating in 1966 with a B.A. in History and Education.

Upon graduation, he first taught History for two years at Langhorne's Neshaminy High School in Bucks County, in Pennsylvania. There, he also coached football and two other sports.

In 1968, he was in the Army Reserve for six months at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Business career Plumeri worked at Citigroup Inc. and its predecessors companies from 1968 until 2000, when he was appointed as chairman and CEO of Willis.

Carter, Berlind & Weill/Shearson Lehman Brothers (1968–93) While in law school, one afternoon in 1968 he decided to look for part-time employment, and began knocking on doors in the Wall Street area. Entering 55 Broad Street, he looked at the lobby directory and noticed the name Carter, Berlind & Weill. He decided to take a position with the firm even after he discovered it was not a law firm but a brokerage house. Weill hired the 24-year-old Plumeri as a part-time clerk, arranged for a closet to be converted into a tiny office, and mentored him. The two were co-workers for many years, with Plumeri as one of Weill's top lieutenants. Plumeri said: "Sandy has been my role model. He's the shrewdest, smartest businessman I've ever seen, and he's also the sweetest." By 1985, Plumeri was a senior executive vice president and director of national sales and marketing.

Plumeri became the president & managing partner of Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1990.

Weill then offered Plumeri the presidency of Smith Barney.

Weill abruptly dismissed Plumeri in August 1994.

Following the integration, he was appointed CEO of Citibank, North America by Citigroup co-Chairmen Weill and John Reed. J. Paul Newsome, an analyst with CIBC Oppenheimer, said: "He's not the spit-and-polish executive many people expected. He's rough on the edges. But Citibank knows the bank as an institution is in trouble—it can't get away anymore with passive selling—and Plumeri has all the passion to throw a glass of cold water on the bank." In January 2000, somewhat unexpectedly, Plumeri retired from Citibank.

Willis (2000–2013) The early years While vacationing in Paris, the Plumeris by chance met Henry Kravis whose leveraged buyout firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), had purchased the Willis Group in 1998 for $1.4 billion.

Initially, Plumeri had no interest in the position.

The staid, nearly 200-year-old, tradition-laden British-based company (established in 1828) had just incurred a loss in 1999 of $104 million ($ today).

"This is exactly the kind of leadership opportunity I've been looking for to focus the next stage of my career", Plumeri decided. Plumeri pledged to his employees that as long as he was CEO, he would not sell any of his Willis stock. Plumeri admitted, "I don't know what I don't know, so I've asked a lot of questions", but noted that "When you are in virgin territory without any baggage, sometimes that is better because you don't have a sense of what you can't do." Thinking quickly, the executive responded: "I'm sorry, sir. I must have left it on my pyjamas." The CEO of the company's global markets division, Grahame J. Millwater, said: "The sheer dynamism of the individual took us a little bit by surprise. We had a very different management style before."

In June 2001, he brought the company back to public ownership in an IPO, and had it listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Locals referred to the new headquarters as "Plumeri's Palace". The building incorporates Plumeri's "no-doors" policy, a policy which extends to his own office.

In 2009, he struck a deal that led to the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, the tallest building in North America, being renamed the Willis Tower, as the company rented of its office space. He and Mayor Richard Daley unveiled a sign with the new name in a ceremony in July. Plumeri said: "You can call it anything you want... you can call it the 'Big Willie' for all I care. As a matter of fact, I wish you would."

Plumeri received compensation of $8.1 million in 2007, $19.9 million in 2008, and $10.9 million in 2009 (consisting of a salary of $1 million, bonus of $1.7 million, restricted stock awards of $7.3 million, and other compensation of $.9 million). Willis extended his contract in January 2010 until July 7, 2013. As of March 2010, Plumeri owned 3.8 million shares of the company, representing 2.3%.

With regards to his philosophy of life, Plumeri said: "I’m from the school of anything's possible. I’m from the group that says it doesn’t matter where you are from, but that it does matter how big you dream." Now he serves on the boards of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Jackie Robinson Foundation, Carnegie Hall, and the Churchill Centre and Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms in London.

Sports interests

Plumeri co-owns the Trenton Thunder. The team plays at Samuel J. Plumeri Sr. Field, the 6,341-seat stadium he named after his father in 1999.

He also invested £100,000 towards a minority interest in the Plymouth Argyle Football Club in the United Kingdom, giving him an indirect ownership interest in the club of less than 1%.

Plumeri was commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority from 1997 to 2004.

Philanthropy Plumeri Park is the 1,000-seat baseball facility of the William & Mary Tribe baseball team since 1999, constructed in large part on the basis of a donation by Plumeri in the autumn of 1996. He also funded the Joseph J. Plumeri Business Scholarship, the Joseph J. Plumeri Endowment Fund for baseball scholarships for the school, and the W&M/Plumeri Pro-Am Golf Tournament.

Plumeri is a board member of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University (since 1998), Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, and Churchill Museum in London. He is a member of William & Mary's governing Board of Visitors, Business School Advisory Board, and Sir Robert Boyle Society, as well as a lifetime member of the President's Council and a trustee emeritus of the William & Mary Endowment Association.

Plumeri was also the commencement speaker at the College of Saint Rose in 2006, Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary in 2008, and the College of William and Mary in 2011.

In November 2015, Plumeri and his wife Susan donated $5 million to New York Law School to support the creation of the Joe Plumeri Center for Social Justice and Economic Opportunity.

Awards 1991 Italian-American Hall of Fame (inducted) 2006 Humanitarian of the Year (Make-a-Wish Foundation of New Jersey) 2010 Achievement in Industry Award (The Jackie Robinson Foundation) 2011 Honorary Doctor of Public Service from The College of William and Mary 2011 Grand marshal, New York City Columbus Day Parade, Columbus Citizens Foundation 2015 Honorary Doctor of Law, New York Law School 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity

Family With then-wife Nancy (née Walton) Plumeri, He currently lives in New York City. His brother Samuel J. Plumeri Jr., is vice chairman of the New Jersey State Parole Board and chairman the Capital Health Board of Directors. He also served as a Trenton police officer, Mercer County (New Jersey) sheriff, and for a decade was superintendent of Police/Director of Public Safety for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

His mother, Josephine Plumeri, died on January 20, 2012, at the age of 97.