From Rags to Riches

This morning on The Opening Bell I had the opportunity to talk to someone who greatly influenced my career and my decision to work on Wall Street, Sandy Weill, the former chairman and ceo of Citigroup.

As a kid my mom worked for Shearson Loeb Rhodes, then Shearson Lehman and then Shearson Lehman American Express. My mom started as an executive assistant then moved to personnel followed by the Human Resources Department and then back to the executive offices. She didn't go to college and we didn't come from ANY money. None, zilch, notta!! My mom was a single working mother when my parents divorced when I was two. Through her hard work, passion and resolve she was able to expose me to the world in which she lived from 9a.m.-7p.m. each day…the world of Wall Street.

One of the many well-known people that my mom worked directly for as an executive assistant was Sandy Weill. We still have pictures of me as a toddler sitting on his desk with him smoking cigars in the background. I was very little, but look back on those days as defining moments because they taught me that anything was possible and that if you worked hard, dreamt big and applied yourself you could do what you set your mind to.

Sandy epitomized that! He was the true rags to riches story and while the history books now look at a guy who became power and money hungry and went on massive acquisition binges, he made history by combining insurance and banking, built banks based on back office models and has done a lot of terrific things for a lot of people and I'm fortunate to be one of them.

This morning he rang the bell on the NYSE to celebrate the foundation that he created called the National Academy Foundation (NAF). It's a partnership that's been in existence since 1983 between business leaders and educators whose mission is to help students prepare for their professional career. It's an excellent program! I know a bunch of people who had the great fortune to participate in it and are tremendously successful because of the networking and mentoring opportunities.

Aside from NAF, I asked Sandy about all the protectionism talk, sovereign wealth funds, the future of Wall Street, Citi and the de-levering process.