NYSE Creates New Board, Maintains Trading System

NEW YORK – New York Stock Exchange (search) Interim Chairman John Reed (search) Wednesday named eight candidates for a new independent board to replace the exchange's current board, which has been widely criticized for its governance of the world's largest exchange and the remuneration of previous Chairman Richard Grasso (search).

There would be no fundamental change to the exchange's self-regulated status or the way in which stocks are traded, Reed said.

The current board "did not serve the institution well," Reed said at a media briefing at the NYSE's New York headquarters. The board was widely cad resigned.

Under Reed's proposals, the exchange will now have an eight-member board, made up of people with no ties to the exchange, and a further "board of executives" with about 20 people, which will include representatives of Wall Street firms, specialists and other interested parties.

Board-level committees will draw members from both boards.

The only holdovers from the old board to be named as nominees to the new board are Madeleine Albright (search), former U.S. secretary of state, and Herbert Allison, chairman of pension fund giant TIAA-CREF (search).

The other six nominees are: Sir Dennis Weatherstone, a former executive of bank J.P. Morgan; Euan Baird, retired head of oil field services firm Schlumberger Ltd. ; Robert Shapiro, retired head of agricultural products company Monsanto Co.; Marshall Carter, retired head of fund manager and bank State Street Corp. ; Shirley Anne Jackson, head of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.; and James McDonald, chief executive of Rockefeller & Co., which manages money for the Rockefeller family and other companies and wealthy people.

The proposed new directors will face re-election annually, with no term limits set, Reed said. Notable exclusions from the new board are the exchange's two co-chief operating officers, Robert Britz and Catherine Kinney.

"We simply have to manage our regulatory function more effectively, and I think we can," Reed said, responding to questions at the media briefing.

"When we get a new management team in place, one thing that we have to take a good look at is how to respond to these criticisms that have been made (about the NYSE's self-regulation)," Reed said. "There is no pain without learning."