The annual World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, is sometimes criticized as a media circus for celebrities and politicians where little work of any substance is achieved. Not so for the hard-charging Paul Calello, 46, Asia-Pacific CEO for Credit Suisse, who closed two financing deals with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguy˜ên T'ân D˜ung totaling $1.7 billion for the country’s shipbuilding and shipping industries. Then, three weeks after Calello returned from Davos, Credit Suisse’s board of directors appointed him CEO of the firm’s investment bank, succeeding Brady Dougan, 47, who was promoted to CEO of the group, filling the shoes of the retiring Oswald Grübel, 63.
Calello, a native Bostonian who worked for Bankers Trust and the Federal Reserve System before joining Credit Suisse in 1990, has spent most of his banking career outside the U.S., the last five as chairman of Credit Suisse in the Pacific.
“When we talk about globalization, there is a unique perspective that Credit Suisse holds in regard to executives who understand how to work with colleagues around the world,” says Calello, who will have plenty of support. Last month Dougan hired Michael Ryan, 39, an 18-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, as the investment banking division’s head of securities. Dougan also hired Robert Shafir -- formerly of Lehman Brothers -- as CEO of the Americas.
