Merrill Lynch has appointed Noel B. Donohoe, who has more than 20 years of risk management experience in the financial services industry, as co-chief risk officer.
Donohoe will report directly to John A. Thain, chairman and CEO, Merrill Lynch.
Most recently, Donohoe was chief operating officer and a partner of Dune Capital Management. Prior to Dune Capital Management, he was with Goldman Sachs, from 1994 to 2005, where he was head of Firmwide Risk when he left the company. Donohoe will have joint responsibility for risk management with Edmond N. Moriarty, who was appointed chief risk officer in September 2007. Moriarty will also report directly to Thain.
“I am very pleased that Noel is joining the Merrill Lynch team. Noel’s appointment and the new reporting structure of risk management emphasize the importance of this area to me and to Merrill Lynch. Noel’s many years of market risk and product control experience will make an important addition to our risk management function and is complementary to the firm’s existing team,” says Thain.
At Dune Capital Management, Donohoe’s responsibilities as chief operating officer included risk management, finance, investor reporting and operations. As head of Firmwide Risk at Goldman Sachs, Donohoe was responsible for global market risk across all the trading and private equity businesses as well as control and verification of derivative pricing models.
In addition, Donohoe previously held other positions at Goldman Sachs including chief operating officer of Firmwide Risk, and head of Global Product Control. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was with Salomon Smith Barney from 1987 to 1993 in London where he held a number of risk and finance positions.
Donohoe began his career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers where he held a variety of positions from 1980 to 1987. Donohoe graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin, Ireland, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.