NEW YORK–He is out of a job, but don't worry about Dick Grasso combing through the want-ads.
Despite the controversy that forced Mr. Grasso to resign from the top post at the New York Stock Exchange, other companies and organizations could soon be eyeing him for a prominent role, corporate recruiters said Thursday.
Mr. Grasso, of course, doesn't need to work, thanks to the $139.5 million lump payout of accumulated pay and benefits that cost him his job. At 57 years old, there is nothing to prevent him from settling into a long, and very comfortable retirement. There also is speculation he will sign a deal to write a book.
But if he chooses to take another job -- and some headhunters have trouble imagining the bulldog-like Mr. Grasso sitting still -- much of his integrity remains intact, at least for the right role.
But what role is the right fit? That is the question. Mr. Grasso's connections to the powerful, his insider's acumen, his ability to command an organization, and a record of accomplishment will probably make him prized by some firms, but the right match isn't obvious.
Perhaps, a post at a politically connected private-equity firm or law practice, some headhunters and consultants suggested Thursday. Others mentioned a leadership role with one of Wall Street's banking firms, or with a not-for-profit organization.
"I can't possibly imagine that someone of that level of energy and that level of ability is just going to go away," said Barry Honig, president of Honig International, a Tenafly, N.J. executive-search firm specializing in the financial-services industry.
"My guess is there will be a long list of people who will like him to be at the helm of their companies," Mr. Honig said.
Other recruiters largely agreed. They noted that unlike many chief executives booted from corporate suites during the past two years of ethics scandals, Mr. Grasso's chief offense was the perception that he was paid far too much.
"It's one of the few times where somebody takes a fall without being tabbed either for lack of performance or unethical [behavior]," said John Johnson, a partner with executive-recruiter Korn/Ferry International.
Even many of Mr. Grasso's critics praise the job he did in leading the exchange, from the modernization of its technology and its marketing to investors to shepherding its recovery after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Still, the controversy at the NYSE has partly tarnished his reputation at a time when companies are ultra-concerned about appearing ethically scrubbed. That could limit Mr. Grasso's ability to win some appointments, said Thomas L. McLane, vice chairman of the Directorship Search Group of Greenwich, Conn., which recruits corporate directors and senior executives.
"I don't know how he'd be viewed as a potential board member because I don't think he made a good example of how a board should operate at the New York Stock Exchange," Mr. McLane said.
Part of the answer to Mr. Grasso's future may be dictated by the noncompete clause in his employment contract. That clause sets a two-year prohibition against Mr. Grasso taking a job with Nasdaq or another exchange or electronic trading firm. It also bars him from soliciting any NYSE employee to leave for another job.
But the contract appears to leave anything else, including corporate directorships or leadership roles, as fair game, said Peter N. Hillman, an attorney specializing in employment law at New York's Chadbourne & Parke.
"There is nothing [in the contract] to prohibit him from taking a job in the vast majority of corporate America," Mr. Hillman said.
Even so, the NYSE has few, if any, direct parallels in the corporate world and Mr. Grasso's résumé -- he never finished college and worked his way up from floor clerk to the top of the exchange – isn't usually what companies are seeking.
"It's not like he was CEO of a business that was turning a profit and loss and so he, in some ways, is a unique individual," Mr. Johnson said. "That will be the big challenge in being able to conceptualize where his skill set is going to fit."
But headhunters say Mr. Grasso will likely have his choice of opportunities, if he so desires.
"Economically," Mr. Johnson, of Korn/Ferry, said, "I'm sure he's in no hurry."
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