Jamie Dimon Biography

Jamie Dimon was born on March 13, 1956, in New York City, U.S., to a Greek immigrant couple, Theodore Papademetriou (surname later changed to Dimon), an executive vice president at ‘American Express,’ and Themis Kalos. He grew up with his twin brother, Ted, and an older brother, Peter.

Dimon attended 'The Browning School' and then majored in psychology and economics from 'Tufts University.' While At 'Tufts,' he once wrote an essay on the merger of 'Shearson,' a series of investment-banking and retail-brokerage firms. His mother sent it to Sandy Weill, who is credited for making 'Shearson' the second-largest securities firm on 'Wall Street.' Weill hired Dimon for a summer internship at 'Shearson.' Dimon later worked as a management consultant for the company for 2 years.

While at 'Harvard Business School,' he interned at 'Goldman Sachs.' He graduated as a ''Baker Scholar'' in 1982.

Jamie Dimon had job offers from 'Goldman Sachs,' 'Morgan Stanley,' and 'Lehman Brothers,' but Weill persuaded him to join 'American Express' as his assistant. Dimon was offered a lively work environment, although the pay was not great.

From 1982 to 1985, Dimon worked as Weill’s assistant. Weill was the president at 'American Express.' They both resigned in 1985 and acquired the consumer finance and insurance service company 'Commercial Credit' from 'Control Data.'

As the chief financial officer, Dimon turned 'Commercial Credit' into a corporate giant. Meanwhile, he also served as the chairman and CEO of 'Smith Barney' from 1996 to 1997 and then as a co-chairman and co-CEO of 'Salomon Smith Barney Holdings' for a year.

In 1998, Dimon and Weill established the financial services conglomerate 'Citigroup.' Dimon was named the president but had to resign in November 1998, after falling out with Weill.

In March 2000, Jamie Dimon was appointed as the CEO of 'Bank One,' the fifth-largest bank in the U.S. 'JPMorgan Chase' acquired the bank in July 2004, and Dimon served as the president and chief operating officer of the merged company.

On December 31, 2005, he became the CEO of 'JPMorgan Chase.' He was appointed as the chairman and president of the bank on December 31, 2006. In that capacity, he made 'JPMorgan Chase' the leading U.S. bank in terms of market penetration value, domestic assets under management, and share price.

Under Dimon's leadership, 'JPMorgan Chase' received $25 billion in funds from the 'U.S. Treasury Department' on October 28, 2008, which was the fifth-largest transaction under the 'Troubled Asset Relief Program' (TARP).

Dimon was named a ‘Class A’ board member of the 'Federal Reserve Bank of New York' in March 2008. It was highly speculated that he would be appointed as the secretary of the ‘U.S. Treasury’ under the Obama administration. Instead, Obama named Timothy Geithner, the 'Federal Reserve Bank of New York' president, to the post. It was reported that Obama was not impressed with how Dimon had handled the acquisition of 'Washington Mutual' by 'JPMorgan Chase.'

The advisory agency 'Brendan Wood International' called Dimon one of "The TopGun CEOs" in 2009.

In 2011, 'JPMorgan Chase & Co.' paid Dimon $23.1 million as compensation, making him the highest-paid bank CEO. That year, he chaired the executive committee of 'The Business Council' and continued to serve in the position until 2012.

On May 10, 2012, Jamie Dimon criticized the strategy of a trading portfolio by 'JPMorgan Chase.' The bank reported a loss of $2 billion to avoid overall credit risks. The loss eventually dangerously hiked to $6.2 billion, and the shareholders felt they had been misled. The investigating bodies, the 'Federal Reserve,' the 'U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,' and the ‘FBI’ termed the episode ''London Whale.''

On May 17 that year, the 'Senate Banking Committee' summoned Dimon for the hearing concerning the 'JPMorgan Chase' trading losses. As testified to the 'Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee,' he confessed that he knew about the loss but denied approving it. He also denied misleading the shareholders, as stated to the 'House Financial Services Committee.'

Dimon's pay was reduced to $11.5 million due to the ''London Whale'' losses. He later apologized to 'JPMorgan Chase' shareholders.

In May 2013, more than half of 'JPMorgan Chase' stockholders agreed to retain Dimon's post as the chairman and CEO. Despite settling the losses in billions, 'JPMorgan Chase' gave him a 74% salary hike for 2013.

On February 11, 2016, Dimon purchased $26.6 million worth of stocks as 'JPMorgan Chase' share prices dropped by 25%.

In December that year, the newly elected president, Donald Trump, hired Dimon to work for his business, which was established to structure strategies and policies to resolve various economic issues.

In 1983, Jamie Dimon married Judith Kent. The two had first met at 'Harvard Business School.' The couple has three daughters: Julia, Laura, and Kara Leigh.

Dimon is a massive supporter of the 'Democratic Party' and describes himself as "barely a Democrat."

On July 1, 2014, Dimon was diagnosed with throat cancer, which he reported as curable. He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatment at the 'Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital' in New York but continued working simultaneously. His chemotherapy sessions ended in September 2014.