James Gorman, CEO-designate of Morgan Stanley, has taken temporary offices on the firm’s trading floor. Gesture or not, this sends a strong signal that the 50-year-old Australian lawyer with a Columbia MBA and a background chiefly in strategic planning (McKinsey partner) and asset management (head of private clients at Merrill Lynch) is committed to trading and other investment banking activities. He affirmed that palpably in late December by naming Paul Taubman (see No. 19) and current CFO Colm Kelleher as co-presidents of institutional securities, Morgan’s biggest business.

Hired in 2006, Gorman oversaw the creation of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, now the world’s largest brokerage firm, to balance the volatile investment banking business. He succeeds John Mack, who becomes chairman, in January. The onetime consultant’s mission: to restore Morgan — still one of Wall Street’s most powerful firms — to its former glory after a decade of management turmoil.