Willumstad to Head AIG Board

New York - American International Group has appointed 61-year-old Robert Willumstad as its new chairman of its board of directors, effective November 1, 2006. As reported in the popular press, Willumstad resigned from his positions as New York-based Citigroup's president and COO in July 2005 after being passed over for the chief executive's position at the company. Willumstad previously was vice chairman of the Global Consumer Group and led Citigroup's Global Consumer Lending division shortly after the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group in 1998. Prior to the formation of Citigroup, he was chairman and CEO of Travelers Group Consumer Financial Services. He joined CitiFinancial (then Commercial Credit, a predecessor company) in 1987. Willumstad earlier spent 20 years with Chemical Bank in operations, retail banking and computer systems. Willumstad will replace Frank Zarb, who filled Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's spot when he stepped down in March 2005 amidst a growing accounting scandal. Zarb has served as interim chairman since April 2005. AIG agreed to pay $1.64 billion to settle the allegations against it in February 2006. Willumstad was elected to the AIG Board of Directors in January 2006. He retired in 2005 as president and COO of Citigroup, where he served on its board of directors. He is also a member of the board of directors of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Habitat for Humanity and Adelphi University. "Bob Willumstad is a superb choice to assume the position of AIG Chairman," says Zarb. "I have tremendous respect for his judgment, intellect and expertise in the insurance and financial services industries." Over the past 18 months, AIG's Board of Directors and its senior management have transformed the company in many ways, most particularly in the area of corporate governance, composition of the Board of Directors, transparency, regulatory compliance and the installation of a new management team, headed by president and CEO Martin Sullivan, Zarb added. Also elected to AIG's board was Virginia Rometty, 49, who serves as senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services, managing a network of more than 100,000 consultants and service professionals worldwide.     Sources: Business Wire, Forbes