Corporate Governance

Remember me yakking about Home Depot a few months ago? Remember me listing out the members of their board of directors?

Remember a guy named Angelo Mozilo from that post? Well, he's also the Chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial. Well, trust me when I tell you this, because by the time you read this, I'm sure Countrywide Financial will be in bankruptcy and probably out of business.

Wow, this is really turning out to be a funny funny blog entry.

Well, anyway, let's continue down this fun little bunny hole and make sure we know who's on Countrywide Financial's board, because lets face it, they're not going to be for much longer and Countrywide's web site wont be up anymore and you wont be able to find out this information.

Wow, I just ate lunch, and I'm still really mean. I probably have to go get some food after this entry is done.


Anyway, here's who's on Countrywide's board of directors:

Henry G. Cisneros (chair of the compensation committee)
Former COO of Univision
Former HUD secretary under President Bill Clinton
Former member of KB Home board of directors.


Jeffrey M. Cunningham (chair of the corporate governance committee)
Member of the board of directors of TheStreet.com (WHAT?!?!?!?! More on this after I get through the bios)
Non-executive Chairman of Sapient Corporation
Formber board member for a few different firms
Venture capitalist, basically.


Robert J. Donato (chair of the finance committee)
Former executive at UBS and Paine Webber.


Martin R. Melone (chair of the audit and ethics committee)
Retired partner of Ernst & Young.


Robert T. Parry (chair of the operations and public policy committee)
Former CEO and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Member of the board of directors of Janus Capital.


Oscar P. Robertson (he's not a chair of anything.... *sniff*)
Member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame. No, really.


Keith P. Russell (chair of the credit committee)
Venture capitalist
Former Vice-Chairman of Chief Risk Officer of Mellon Financial Corporation


Harley W. Snyder (lead outside director)
Real Estate developer


Angelo Mozilo
Chairman and CEO Countrywide Financial Corporation
interestingly, the bio doesn't mention Home Depot?
Hmm... Why would a bio skip that?


Kudos to Angelo Mozilo for having an overwhelmingly outside board of directors - he's the only insider on the board.


Anyway, let's get back to Jeffrey M. Cunningham. Now this blog gets interesting.
If you had told me an hour ago that Jim Cramer was three degrees of separation from Bob Nardelli, I would have told you that you needed to cut back on the liquor.

But here we have something. Jim Cramer is the big guy over at TheStreet.com. A member of his board of directors in Jeffrey Cunningham. Mr Cunningham is also on the board of directors of Countrywide. The CEO of Countrywide is Angelo Mozilo. Mr Mozilo was also on the board of Home Depot while Bob Nardelli was the CEO there.

Jim Cramer is also the host of Mad Money, which I watch religiously, and the author of a few books, all of which I own. He has a "CEO Wall of Shame" for really bad CEOs that deserved to be called out. Bob Nardelli was on this list during his time as CEO of Home Depot. Kudos to Jim Cramer for naming names. I can't imagine all the legal reviews that must happen before he can say anything on the air.

Recently, Jim Cramer was talking about the Federal Reserve should cut rates prevent the subprime mortgage mess from spilling into the general economy and causing a much bigger problem. A quick search of YouTube should show this video - Jim Cramer later admitted he had gone off the reservation. He was quite animated and upset with the situation.

But wait. TheStreet.com, of which Mr Cramer is the bigwig, has on it's board of directors a guy (Mr Cunningham) who is also on the board of directors of Countrywide. This could be taken to smell unethical for Jim Cramer. It's one thing to watch out for the little guy, but if it turns out Jim Cramer may have a financial problem of his own if Countrywide goes belly-up, Mr Cramer could be in a big legal mess, his repuation would be wiped out, and CNBC and TheStreet.com would probably have to disown him. If Mr Cunningham has to sell his TheStreet.com stock if Countrywide went under, that would directly hurt Mr Cramer.

Let me put together some sample sensationalist and mean headlines, so you can see my point:
Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money and strong advocate for lower interest rates, could lose millions if the Fed Doesnt lower rates.
Jim Cramer has secret working relationship with Countrywide mortgage. Could he have been screaming for lower interest rates so he could line his own pocket?
Jim Cramer screams for lower interest rates to protect his buddies, not to help the little guy.
Jim Cramer screams for lower interest rates to protect his own investments, not to help the little guy.


Mr Cramer - I strongly doubt you read my blog. This blog is for me to keep track of people I do not want to invest with, and I'm sure my readership is me, my wife when I make her read something, and the occassional person who clicks on the wrong google search result. I like your work. Disclose the relationship clearly on the air so that people know you're out in front of these things - dont let the "Leonard the Monkey" crowd do it to you.