JPMC Co-Presidents Step In As CEO Dimon Recovers From Heart Surgery

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is recovering from emergency heart surgery this week, the company said Thursday, according to CNBC.

The surgery was to repair an acute aortic dissection, according to CNBC. Until Dimon, 63, recovers completely, co-presidents Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith will be running things in his absence.

Pinto and Smith issued a memo to employees and shareholders, stating the surgery had been successful. The memo said Dimon was “alert and doing well,” and the issue was caught early.

CNBC’s Wilfred Frost reported that Dimon woke up with heart pains Thursday morning and went to the hospital.

The memo from Pinto and Smith reassures everyone that the pair of them have been working with Dimon closely for the past two years in the capacity of co-presidents and chief operating officers.

An aortic dissection happens when the inner layer of the large blood vessel branching off the heart tears. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition can be fatal, CNBC reported.

The bank’s lead director, Lee Raymond, said the board for JPMorgan had been fully briefed on the developments and had asked Pinto and Smith to head things up during Dimon’s recovery. Raymond called the pair exemplary at their jobs and said things would continue seamlessly to serve communities, clients and shareholders.

Pinto and Smith spoke highly of the company’s recent Investor Day, in which the company provided “comprehensive updates” on strategies and priorities going forward. The pair said they had also been “deeply involved” in all firmwide functions.

This has not been Dimon’s first health scare. In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he continued to lead the bank while undergoing chemotherapy.

Earlier this week, JPMorgan responded to the coronavirus crisis by requesting that thousands of employees work from home as a contingency plan against the outbreak.