Stan O'Neal
MBA 1978
Stan O'Neal rose through the ranks of corporate America to become the first African American to head a major firm on Wall Street when Merrill Lynch named him CEO in 2002.
After HBS, O'Neal joined GM as a treasurer's analyst and within two years ascended to director of the treasury office.
Nine years later he took a position with financial giant Merrill Lynch. By 1998, he had moved into management, first as chief financial officer (1998), then president of the US private client group (2000), president and chief operating officer (2001), chief executive officer (2002), and finally chairman in 2003.