His two most trusted magician confidants are Persi Diaconis, a professor of mathematics at Harvard, and Steve Freeman, a corporate comptroller who lives in Ventura, California.
Ms. Brennan said she and her husband, Patrick, who died in September 2002, started the business after he was laid off in the early 1990's from his job as a corporate comptroller.
Last year Mr Grubman paid a $15m fine after e-mails surfaced suggesting that he often was far more critical of companies than his published opinions revealed.The settlement was a "wake-up call to those on whom the investing public depends to guard against corporate corruption," said Alan Hevesi, comptroller of New York state, who acted as lead plaintiff.
"If the board wants to send a message that they want to restore regulatory confidence in the company, it will name an independent chairman," said Michael Garland, who oversees corporate governance for New York City Comptroller John Liu, one of the pension fund investors backing the shareholder proposal.
Michael Garland, assistant comptroller who heads corporate governance for New York City's comptroller, John Liu, said: "It's like playing a game where only the home team gets to know the score".
Michael Garland, an assistant comptroller who heads corporate governance for the New York City comptroller, John Liu, says that while JPMorgan exceeds its peers in size and profit, it also exceeds its peers in regulatory problems.
Jamie should run the business and someone else should run the board," said Michael Garland, executive director for corporate governance in the New York City comptroller's office.
"You really couldn't have a stronger case for removing directors," Michael Garland, executive director for corporate governance in the New York City comptroller's office, told me this week.
As vice president and comptroller, Fisk used corporate funds to corrupt public officials, produce Broadway shows, and support Broadway beauties, especially the well-known Josie Mansfield, to such an extent that he was also called "The Prince of the Erie".
"I think it's important to emphasize that this initiative should be seen less as a criticism than as a constructive attempt to strengthen standards and enforcement," said Pat Doherty, corporate governance director of New York State Comptroller Thomas P DiNapoli, during the conference call.
"There are huge problems with pay disparity both within our portfolio and in society," said Michael Garland, who leads corporate governance in the New York City comptroller's office, which oversees $139 billion in pension fund money and votes on corporate compensation packages for more than 3,500 companies.
