AIG's Chairman Harvey Golub Resigns, Robert S. (Steve) Miller Appointed to Succeed Him

Harvey Golub resigned as AIG's chairman of the board today in a hand-delivered letter to George Miles, chairman of AIG's governance committee, stating that he believed it was his duty to prevent the board from having to choose between him and AIG CEO Robert Benmosche. AIG announced that Robert S. (Steve) Miller has been appointed Golub's successor, according to an AIG statement. Golub also resigned his director position at the company.

In the letter to Miles, Golub wrote in reference to Benmosche telling the board that the working relationship between the chairman and CEO was "ineffective and unsustainable."

"At this point, I view asking the board to choose between us would be an abdication of my responsibility to lead," Golub continued. "Consequently, I'm resigning for the simple reason I believe it is easier to replace a chairman than a CEO - particularly a company in the midst of two major activities: (1) a major corporate restructuring, and (2) development of an exit plan from government control, both of which involve executing a long list of difficult tasks.

Speaking on behalf of the board, Miller thanked Golub for "his tremendous service to AIG." The company's statement further quoted Miller as saying, "AIG has established strong momentum over the last year, and we remain fully committed to delivering on AIG's core priorities: repaying taxpayers, meeting all of the company's obligations to its various stakeholders, and restructuring the company so that it emerges as a smaller, more focused enterprise worthy of investor confidence."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio