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Cruz Role Is Cemented at Morgan Stanley

Lauren Silva

One of Wall Street's few leading ladies has cemented her position at Morgan Stanley(MS Quote).

Late Wednesday, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack appointed the firm's vice chairman of investment banking, Robert Scully, as the co-president of the Wall Street firm. The move dispelled rumors that Mack would try to oust the other president, Zoe Cruz, by bringing in a more experienced executive to take her place.

Mack, who rose to the top seat at the firm after a highly publicized battle with former chief executive Philip Purcell, was said to be considering other, more seasoned executives who could potentially strong-arm Cruz out of her role.

But finding a more experienced executive than Cruz is difficult. At 50 years of age, she has been at the firm for almost half her life, and was responsible for bringing in 38% of the bank's net revenue in 2005 through her leadership of the fixed-income group.

Scully's experience closely parallels that of Cruz. He has been a banker at the firm since 1996 and has risen in the ranks on Wall Street since he graduated with an MBA from Harvard in 1977, just five years before Cruz earned her degree from the same university.

"They have highly complementary backgrounds and an excellent working relationship that will make them productive partners in this role," Mack said in the release.

During the internal feud, which started last summer, Cruz chose the side of Purcell, alienating many of her colleagues, including Joseph Perella, who left later during the conflict.

Since the first management defection in June, the shuffling and reshuffling has continued at Morgan Stanley. Cruz has made a number of changes including combining the stock and bond divisions, and reappointing new group heads in the process. Recently, a number of Morgan Stanley executives said they would leave the firm to join Perella, who announced that he would open his own boutique advisory investment bank.