William B. Harrison, Jr.

Who is William B. Harrison, Jr.?

William B. Harrison, Jr., born August 12, 1943 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, is the former CEO and Chairman of JPMorgan Chase. He attended high school at Virginia Episcopal School, where he was a basketball star. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. Having risen through the ranks of Chemical Bank before succeeding Walter V. Shipley during the Chemical Bank takeover of the Chase Manhattan Corporation, he and Douglas A. Warner III, then CEO of J.P. Morgan & Co., were the principal architects of the US$30.9 billion Chase and J.P. Morgan & Co. merger of 2000. Harrison has been a director of the Firm or a predecessor institution since 1991. Mr. Harrison is also a director of Merck & Co., Inc.

Jamie Dimon, former Bank One CEO, replaced Harrison as Chairman on January 1, 2007 following Harrison's decision to step down from his Chairman position of JPMorgan on December 31, 2006.