John J. Mack will step down as chairman of ""Morgan Stanley"":http://www.morganstanley.com and leave the board as expected at the end of the year. Mack also will retire from a full-time role at Morgan Stanley and become a senior advisor to the firm at that time.
[IMAGE] [COLUMN_BREAK]James P. Gorman, president and CEO, was elected by the board to also take on the role of chairman, effective January 1, 2012.
Mack has been with Morgan Stanley for more than three decades. He notified the firm back in 2009 that he would serve in the chairman role for two more years and then move on.
""I leave knowing that the people of Morgan Stanley have accomplished a great deal these last few years â€" carrying our company and our clients through the most challenging market conditions of our lifetime,"" Mack said in a statement.
Chairman-elect Gorman, added, ""Morgan Stanley would not be the world-class franchise it is today if not for John Mack's leadership. His contributions to the firm are innumerable, but none was more critical than the leadership he provided in guiding Morgan Stanley through a financial crisis that claimed many of our peers.""