Postcards
Citigroup's Terri Dial: a "human cyclone" to the end
February 29, 2012: 12:52 PM ET
Tough, tenacious and famously strong-willed, Terri Dial picked up the nickname "the human cyclone" during her four-decade career in banking.
She lived up to her reputation until she died yesterday afternoon, from pancreatic cancer, at age 62.
Rising from teller to CEO of Wells Fargo Bank, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Dial went on to head UK retail banking at Lloyds TSB. In 2008, Citigroup (C) CEO Vikram Pandit lured her from London to be CEO of North American consumer banking. At Citi, Dial earned a spot, No. 47, on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list.
Dial lasted two years at Citi, amidst a maelstrom of management changes. In January 2010, she stepped down and accepted a senior adviser role.
Two weeks later, her medical nightmare began.
"Until then, she thought she was 100% healthy," recalls her husband, Brian Burry, who called last week from Dial's bedside at a hospice facility in Miami.
Burry told me that Dial, two years ago, went to her doctor in Manhattan for what she thought was a stomach flu. A visit to a gastroenterologist led to the discovery of a pancreatic tumor. Surgery, months of infections, and pneumonia followed. And due to these complications, her chemotherapy was delayed.
"This is the insidious nature of the disease," says Burry.
During their 32-year marriage, Dial pushed herself constantly, as she did in business. She and Burry traveled to more than 100 countries. She hot-air ballooned in Burma. She photographed pelagic birds, penguins, seals and whales in Antarctica. She tracked polar bears in Canada and tigers in India.
"What she did not do was squander time," her sister, Donna, wrote in Dial's obituary.
Through rigorous treatment, bouts of nausea, and brief remission of her cancer, Dial stayed positive, says Frontier Communications (FTR) CEO Maggie Wilderotter, who knew Dial for 30 years.
Lynn Carter, known as Lynn Pike when she headed Capital One (COF) Bank, was another close friend. Pike flew to Miami once a month to see Dial.
She recalls her January visit: "Terri was at home and feeling pretty good, and it was 10 days more to make it to the two-year anniversary of her diagnosis." That day, Dial remembered how pessimistic her doctors seemed to be early on. Proudly, Dial looked at Pike and said: "Well, at least I beat the odds."
-
Top women change jobs and lean into their careers
Linda Robinson is leaving the PR firm Robinson Lerer Montgomery to join BlackRock.
Linda Robinson sounded like Oprah in her stunning announcement that she's leaving her namesake PR firm, Robinson Lerer Montgomery, to join BlackRock. "The last 25 years have been an amazing journey and I'm excited for the next chapter in my life," she wrote in a Monday afternoon email that bounced around Manhattan and across corporate America's upper echelons.
Robinson's MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 18, 2011 12:22 PM ET -
Corporate boards earn a "D" for diversity
By Patricia Sellers
When I started my career at Fortune in 1984, corporate America was a land of white men. As I say in my talks about women and power, bosses back then were white men without facial hair.
We've come a long way—just look at Fortune's Most Powerful Women list.
But a new report on Fortune 500 board composition, released by the Alliance for Board Diversity this morning, should make diversity champions weep.
The MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 2, 2011 7:37 AM ET -
Fortune 500: a few surprises!
Two surprising additions to the top 10 of the new Fortune 500, out today: Bank of America (BAC) at No. 5 and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) at No. 9.
That's evidence that the financial crisis has made the big banks bigger--and amidst consolidation, the survivors mightier. Goldman Sachs (GS), No. 39 measured by revenues, ranks sixth on the 500 in terms of profitability. Last year, Goldman earned a stunning $13.4 billion on MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 15, 2010 12:35 PM ETPosted in: Bank of America, banks, CEOs, Citigroup, consumer goods, FORTUNE MPWomen, JPMorgan Chase, Postcards -
Meredith Whitney says unemployment will rise again
by Patricia Sellers
So, retail sales are up. Unemployment is down. And the Dow is near 11,000.
That doesn't mean that all is right with the world.
So says Meredith Whitney.
The analyst who brought down the bank stocks in 2007--by shining the light on their capital shortfalls--came by Fortune's offices Wednesday afternoon to explain why she's still a bear. I asked her: Will unemployment, now at 9.7%, likely go back up? "I think MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 8, 2010 2:46 PM ET -
Another Citi shakeup: Behind Dial's departure
by Patricia Sellers
Terri Dial, Citigroup's (C) CEO of consumer banking for North America, is out.
It's hardly a surprise at a company where the drama (to mimic Citi ads) never sleeps.
But beyond the everlasting turmoil at Citi--which is still under the thumb of the government, with a stock selling below $4--there is the fact that Dial never found her power base at the bank. Recruited by CEO Vikram Pandit from Lloyds MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 11, 2010 9:50 AM ET -
Populism booms in banking and beyond
Are the populists taking over the world?
One rabble-rouser, Arianna Huffington, has concocted a remarkable stunt, which she calls the Move Your Money Project, to rally consumers to transfer their deposits from big banks to small community banks across the U.S. Alas, there's no run yet on Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), or Wells Fargo (WFC). But the Move your Money campaign--which the blog queen dreamed up MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 8, 2010 12:47 PM ETPosted in: Arianna Huffington, Bank of America, banking, banks, blogging, Citigroup, Huffington Post, JPMorgan Chase, Postcards -
A pair of Dimons at JPMorgan Chase
by Patricia Sellers
Ted Dimon Sr. started a new job yesterday.
Not just any job. Formerly a broker at Merrill Lynch, Dimon joined the brokerage unit of JPMorgan Chase (JPM). His son happens to be CEO of the parent company.
Word is, Jamie Dimon steered clear of the deal to hire his 78-year-old dad, who arrived with five other Merrill brokers in tow. According to people close to father and son, Ted MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 10, 2009 12:10 PM ETPosted in: Bank of America, banks, CEOs, Citigroup, finance, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Postcards, Power Shift, Sallie Krawcheck, Sandy Weill, Wall Street -
Citi's top cop: The art of boxing in high heels
I know lots of executives in the banking industry, but I had never heard of Cindy Armine. Until, that is, a couple of months ago when I had lunch with Armine, who is the chief compliance officer at Citigroup (C). Several things blew me away: her humble beginnings (she didn't go to college), her amazing trajectory (from clerk to top cop), her candor about her flaws as a manager--and MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 21, 2009 2:17 PM ET -
Sallie Krawcheck: the big job she didn't take
by Patricia Sellers
A hot job offer dangles before you. How do you know if it's right? Sometimes you feel it in your gut. And sometimes you get a big, bloody warning sign. Like Sallie Krawcheck did before she opted to join Bank of America (BAC).
Krawcheck, the former Citigroup (C) star who joined BofA in August to head its Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, told a story last evening in MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 8, 2009 2:11 PM ETPosted in: Bank of America, banks, Citigroup, finance, FORTUNE MPWomen, jobs, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Postcards, Power Shift, Sallie, Wall Street
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at Yahoo, Marissa Mayer outlines her priorities both in and out of the company. Watch
Brenda Barnes famously quit a big job to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor. Watch
Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
Subscribe: RSS feed | email newsletter
The Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership brings rising-star women from countries around the world to the U.S. for three-week mentorships with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them Ursula Burns of Xerox, Laura Lang of Time Inc., Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, and Tory Burch.
Read more
