JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who turned 69 in March, addressed questions about his succession plans during the company’s investor day event on Monday but did not identify who might succeed him, Business Insider reports.
When asked about the next JPMorgan CEO, Dimon emphasized that the board is actively considering succession planning, describing the company’s leadership pool as a “very deep bench.” However, he stopped short of naming any potential successors.
“We have built a very deep bench,” Dimon said. “The board has intent. It’s not a promise. It’s not a commitment. It’s intent—to be, and prudent, to be thinking about succession. And we should be doing that.”
Dimon stressed the importance of preserving JPMorgan’s culture regardless of who eventually takes the helm.
“If I’m here for four more years and maybe two more or three, executive chair or chairman, that’s a long time,” he said. “But to me, the most important thing, when it gets handed over, you have real teams, real cultures, and hopefully keep on building it. If you look at the best companies in the world, that’s what they had. They continued going forward, regardless of, necessarily, who the CEO was.”
This is not the first time Dimon has been questioned about his retirement or succession plans. During JPMorgan’s earnings call in January, he noted that the board has been interviewing several candidates but had not made a decision.
“We have several exceptional people. You guys know most of them. Maybe one or two, you don’t know,” he said. “The board reviews and meets with them all the time. And obviously, we’re not going to tell the press, but it’s not determined yet.”
At last year’s investor day event, Dimon joked about his retirement timeline, saying it was “not five years anymore,” and reaffirmed his commitment to the role as long as he can perform at full capacity.
Representatives for Dimon did not respond to requests for further comment.
