IA.coverA1.REVISE2.qxd 7/10/09 1:15 PM Page 1 IRISHIRISHAugust/September 2009 AMERICA AMERICACanada $4.95 U.S.$3.95 THE GLORY DAYS OF IRISH IN BASEBALL JUSTICE ROBERTS’ IRISH FAMILY MEMORIES OF THE GREAT HUNGER THE WALL STREET 50 HONORING THE IRISH IN FINANCE The Life DISPLAY UNTIL SEPT. 30, 2009 08 of Brian 74470 73334 Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan on family, Ireland and 09 what the future holds > AIF-Left 7/9/09 12:08 PM Page 1 AIF-Left 7/9/09 12:08 PM Page 2 MutualofAmerica 7/6/09 11:15 AM Page 1 WaterfordAD 7/10/09 2:06 PM Page 1 IA.38-41.rev.qxd 7/10/09 7:36 PM Page 38 38 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IA.38-41.rev.qxd 7/10/09 7:36 PM Page 39 WAL L STREET50 KEYNOTE SPEAKER THE LIFE OF Brian Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan says “It doesn’t all break your way all the time, so you’ve got to just power through it.” e has the look of an athlete, com- “He has proved in difficult environments he is pact with broad shoulders. He also very capable,” said Anthony DiNovi, co-president of has something of a pre-game Boston private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners focus, a quiet intensity, and gives LP, in a Wall Street Journal article by Dan the impression, even as he Fitzpatrick and Suzanne Craig. The article addressed answers questions, that he has his Moynihan’s emergence as a right-hand man and eye on the ball and he’s not forget- potential successor to Bank of America Corp. Chief ting for a moment that right now Executive Kenneth Lewis. he’s involved in the biggest game DiNovi, who has worked with Moynihan on past of his career. deals, also said, “When Ken has a tough job at hand HAt just 49, Brian Moynihan is engaged in the com- he turns to Brian, and Brian has always been there plicated task of integrating Merrill Lynch into Bank for him.” of America. Moynihan, who grew up in a small town in Ohio, A graduate of Brown University and the lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his wife, University of Notre Dame Law School, Moynihan Susan Berry, whom he met while he was at Brown, joined FleetBoston in April 1993 as deputy general and their three children. He credits Susan’s family, counsel, and came to Bank of America following its along with playing rugby (which has taken him to acquisition of FleetBoston. Ireland on occasion), with bringing him up to speed He arrived at his present position as the head of on Irish culture. Bank of America’s Global Banking and Wealth “My wife’s grandmother is from Ireland so she’s Management in January, after Bank of America’s more the classic sort of Boston Irish – the Clancy $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch and the brothers, the Irish humor and all that stuff,” he says, departure of Merrill’s CEO John Thain. adding that he’s been at many St. Patrick’s Day BY PATRICIA HARTY • PHOTOGRAPH BY KIT DE FEVER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009 IRISH AMERICA 39 TourismIrelandAD 7/6/09 11:25 AM Page 1 CIE Tours 7/6/09 10:57 AM Page 1 IA.38-41.rev.qxd 7/10/09 7:36 PM Page 40 Parades in Southie. His own family this. But it is a tribute to those hardscrab- to go to law school. It was a very support- immigrated in the 1850s to upstate New ble ancestors, and perhaps because he ive place and we had more fun than we York and grew vegetables. had inherited some of their tenacity and probably should have had. It’s a great Our meeting took place on the after- understanding “that it doesn’t all break school for a lot of reasons, but the law noon of June 15, at the newly constructed your way all the time, so you’ve got to school was small, you really knew the pro- Bank of America Tower at Avenue on the just power through it,” that Moynihan fessors, you really knew the undergradu- Americas in Midtown Manhattan. The took time out from his hectic schedule to ates. I played rugby so it was fun, too. massive steel and glass structure – a one talk to Irish America, and agreed to give billion dollar project – located on Avenue the Keynote Address at our annual Wall Do you think Rev. John Perkins, of the Americas – would seem to signal Street 50 dinner on August 24. Notre Dame’s president, was Bank of America’s confidence that it will right to invite President Obama Your family came over when? to give the commencement In the 1850’s. Both my parents come speech? from small towns in upstate New York I think he was right, his reasoning was where the Irish part of their families had right. I think at the end of the day one of farms and then opened some stores. My the challenges for a place like Notre grandfather was a lawyer up there. My Dame is to ensure that they maintain their dad went to school and became a chemist willingness to have the debate. I think to work for DuPont. I’m one of eight going back to Father Hesburgh [“Father children, number six. My parents moved Ted,” the man who led the University of to a little town in Ohio, called Marietta, Notre Dame for 35 years], the reason the month before I was born. why the university has had such an TOP LEFT: Brian and his father Robert, impact on political leaders and others in near the Lakes of Killarney. ABOVE: Brian with his wife Susan, this country, is that they’re willing to daughter Mary, and son Christopher. have debates even though they have a LEFT: Brian and Mary on the family’s trip heritage and a particular point of view. It weather this current financial crisis. to Ireland in 2008. served them well. As I receive my visitor’s pass from After doing your undergrad at Security and find my way into the inner Brown you went to Notre Dame When were you last in Ireland? sanctum of the largest bank in the United Law School.Was that a different We went last August [2008]. We took States, passing through a futuristic set of experience? my father and mother, and three of my glass doors, I cannot help but think of Very different. Brown was a great siblings and our children went, so we Moynihan’s ancestors being processed school but it was very heavily Eastern. My had about 18 people traveling around in by immigration officials after landing in grandfather and my uncle both went to a bus, and it was a lot of fun. We went to New York. They could hardly have fore- Notre Dame, so I had a great Notre Dame Dublin for a few days and then took off seen a future that included anything like tradition. It was the best place in the world down to the southwest. We had a bus 40 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009 IA.38-41.rev.qxd 7/10/09 7:36 PM Page 41 driver who had that great Irish humor; we just laughed. Did you discuss the economy? He [the bus driver] and other Irish peo- ple we met along the way had the com- mon view that it was United States prop- erty values and subprime mortgages and all that that created this worldwide finan- cial crisis which was starting to affect Ireland. But at the end of the day, it is local conditions that drive housing prices. Irish housing prices had gotten so out of control relative to what a person could pay that you knew they were going to face what they faced. It’s a classic problem that if you try to outgrow your normal growth rate there’s always a bub- ble on the other side of it. And as soon as the economy slowed down a little it just all came crashing down. It’ll adjust and come back. Will the U.S. economy also adjust? Our view, as a company, is that we’ll start to see a little growth in the latter part of this year and into next year, but the American consumer is still struggling to pay their debts. American companies are more – they’re stabilizing, I think would be the word we’d say right now, PHOTO: KIT DE FEVER in terms of their employment, in terms of their view of their future. They’re not robust and growing but they’re stabilizing, so they’ve come through the worst of it, and we see we’re starting to come out the other Brian Moynihan at the Bank of America side. And I think that bodes well Tower in Midtown Manhattan. for the whole world because when the American consumer spends, that helps everyone. it’s really tough. So I think the govern- Ireland and America and UK and ment did the right thing to calm the popu- Europe and China and Japan, every- The Irish government was the lation down by guaranteeing their body’s going to learn a series of lessons first to guarantee bank deposits. deposits, guaranteeing the liability side, from all this, but I think the common les- And after its bailout it now has and injecting their capital. I assume their son is going to be about leverage, and too 75 percent voting rights now in goal would be to sell their stock positions much borrowing.