New York (Sept. 19, 2003) -- Although accounting oversight board chairman William McDonough says he’s not interested in the job, his name keeps surfacing as a possible replacement for ousted New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso.
After weeks of public outrage over his exorbitant pay package, Grasso resigned Wednesday night during a conference call with NYSE members. But weeks before he tendered his resignation, pundits were already speculating about his successor. McDonough, a former chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, surfaced at the top of most lists.
Some NYSE seat-holders have also proposed Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Donald Marron, former chairman of Paine Webber Group Inc., Paul Volcker, ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission..
Last week, McDonough told Dow Jones through a spokesman that he’s "delighted with the job he has now.” McDonough retired as president of the New York Federal Reserve earlier this year, and accepted the job as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in early July. In his first public speech as chairman, he told the New York CPA Society that the board is gearing up to begin the formidable task it was given by the legislators who made the oversight group the cornerstone of the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform law.
-- WebCPA staff
