AIG Ex-CEO Breaks Down the Final Days

This article contains further comments made by ex-AIG CEO Robert Willumstad in a speech on Thursday. The first story on his appearance at Adelphi University can be read here. Updated to add share price.

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (TheStreet) -- Robert Willumstad described his brief tenure as the head of American International Group (AIG Quote) as bittersweet, and his two years on the firm's board as jumbled at its best.

The banking veteran spent 91 days at the helm of the troubled insurance giant, struggling to avoid a disaster as AIG teetered on the verge of collapse. During an appearance at Adelphi University on Thursday, Willumstad gave a tick-tock of AIG's final days from his point of view as a key player, as well as his outlook for the insurance giant's future.

Willumstad said that while he has turned down most interview offers, the Long Island native was finally speaking up at his alma mater because, "what has been written and recorded has distorted the facts." Thus, he offered an account of "what happened, according to yours truly."

'Welcome to AIG'

When Willumstad joined AIG's board in January 2006, the insurer was still reeling from previous difficulties. An accounting scandal had led to the contentious ouster of former Chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who had spent nearly half a century building AIG into the large international conglomerate that is now being unwound.

"My first board meeting, I had to vote on a multi-billion-dollar settlement," said Willumstad, referring to a $1.6 billion deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle fraud charges. He also had to provide input and make decisions about complex issues that he only was starting to familiarize himself with.