Citigroup (C) To Nominate New Board Members

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is trying to revamp its company and part of that makeover includes overhauling the current board. Citi is preparing to nominate four financial experts, including two former bank CEOs, to be directors, according to people familiar with the matter.

The likely candidates include Jerry Grundhofer, former CEO of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB); Michael O'Neill, former CEO of Bank of Hawaii Corp.; and William S. Thompson, former co-head of bond-giant Pimco. Citigroup is also likely to add at least one more director with a risk-management background, likely a finance professor.

While the Journal said the nominations aren't official yet, those names will likely be subject to a shareholder vote. When Citi files its proxy, it is likely to disclose that current directors Kenneth Derr and Franklin Thomas will step down because they have reached the board's retirement age of 72. Three other Citigroup directors already have said they will step down.

The expected changes follow months of intensifying pressure from federal officials, who have been pushing new Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons to oust some longtime directors and recruit new ones.

Cit's 15-person board has come under pressure from regulators, shareholders, employees and even some top Citigroup executives for failing to adequately oversee the company as it took on greater risk. Surprisingly, Richard Parsons, a former Time Warner Inc. CEO who ran a New York thrift in the 1990s, is the only outside director at Citigroup with a financial-services background.

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