Lehman's Erin Callan
by Patricia Sellers
Erin Callan is Wall Street's Greta Garbo.
After Lehman Brothers (BCS) fired her as chief financial officer in June 2008 -- four months before the firm filed Chapter 11 -- Callan fled to her home in the Hamptons. She's been holed up in Long Island's affluent beach enclave for the past two years. Former colleagues and friends say she's incommunicado, and she's refused to speak to the press.
Until today. After a piece called "Inside Erin Callan's Hamptons Hideaway" popped up on CNBC.com, I called Callan on her cell phone. She answered.
"I'm living a different life," she said, after declaring that she did not want to talk.
We chatted for four minutes, mainly about last year's Fortune story, "The fall of a Wall Street highflier," in which I chronicled her controversial rise, her career collapse, and her escape to this "different life" that involves a boyfriend named Anthony Montella, who went to her high school and grew up to be a firefighter.
"On the whole, it was fair," Callan, 45, said about the profile (in which she refused to cooperate). "I'm not ready to talk," she said today. "And I don't know if I ever will be ready to step out into public view."
Anonymity has its appeal when you're a target of multiple investigations into the history's biggest bankruptcy. Callan is named in a lawsuit filed by California Public Employees' Retirement System two weeks ago. The giant pension fund known as CALPERS charges Callan, former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld and other executives and directors with making false statements in the months leading up to the Wall Street giant's failure.
Callan wouldn't comment on the fraud allegations that still swirl around her. As we closed the conversation, I wished her well. "Anthony wishes you well too," she replied.
This was a week of extreme behavior. From embarrassment to enlightenment. We learned that John Thain, ousted by Bank of America (BAC) CEO Ken Lewis, redecorated his Merrill Lynch office at a cost of more than $1.2 million. People who worked with Thain pre-Merrill tell me that he was not a really extravagant guy. But he was, at times, clueless.
Three people who worked with Thain at the New York Stock MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 30, 2009 8:03 PM ET
Now that the government has agreed to rescue Citigroup (C), investors are pondering again a question that never seems to die: Wasn't it a mistake to let Lehman Brothers fail? Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was asked this very question in a Q&A that ran in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, and he replied, "We didn't have an option." He said that Lehman had neither a buyer, as Bear Stearns did in MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 25, 2008 1:47 PM ET
Former Lehman Brothers (LEH) CFO Erin Callan has landed quickly—at Credit Suisse Group (CS). She's the new head of its investment bank's global hedge fund business.
I hear that she's been holed up in the Hamptons, and I expected her to take a while to find a new job. Some speculated that she would go to a hedge fund such as Chicago-based Citadel or Och-Ziff (OZM), and maybe even get out MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jul 15, 2008 4:07 PM ET
The end came quickly for Erin Callan. It was at Thursday's executive committee meeting, the daily 8 a.m. gathering of Lehman Brothers' top executives, that Callan, the firm's chief financial officer, admitted she had lost credibility with the Street and offered to give up the job.
Just like that, Wall Street's most powerful woman fell. Her move came nearly seven months after Zoe Cruz, until then considered the Street's top woman MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 12, 2008 3:36 PM ET
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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