Morgan Stanley has announced that Mitchell M. Merin, president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has decided to retire from the firm. Owen D. Thomas will serve as acting president of MSIM during the search for a permanent successor to Merin.
Merin will remain as a senior advisor to MSIM, working with Thomas on a variety of matters related to the transition and other issues, according to Morgan Stanley. Joseph McAlinden, MSIM’s chief investment officer, will be responsible for MSIM’s investment process and strategy.
Thomas, 44, is head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate, the firm’s industry-leading real estate financial services franchise. Thomas will retain his role at Morgan Stanley Real Estate during this interim assignment. Thomas and McAlinden will report to Zoe Cruz, Morgan Stanley’s acting president.
John J. Mack, chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, said, “Investment Management is a key business for Morgan Stanley, one that we are deeply committed to investing in and growing. As head of the business, Mitch Merin provided strong leadership and established an excellent foundation on which to build. He has significantly enhanced profitability, and the performance of key funds continues to improve. We greatly appreciate everything that Mitch has contributed to the Firm and are grateful that he will be working with Owen Thomas to ensure a smooth transition following his retirement.”
In addition to his leadership of MSIM for the past seven years, Merin has held a wide variety of executive positions for more than two decades with Morgan Stanley and with Dean Witter, Discover & Co., which merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997. At the time of the merger, Merin was executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Dean Witter Discover, and he led its merger transition effort. After the merger he served as president and CEO of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Advisors, the firm’s proprietary asset management business serving individual investors, before assuming his current role in 1998 as head of the combined investment management business for both individual and institutional investors.
Merin joined Sears in 1981 before becoming Senior Vice President and Group Treasurer at Dean Witter in 1986. He subsequently served at Dean Witter as managing director of Corporate Finance as well as executive vice president and director of Taxable Fixed Income and Futures, among other roles. He received a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1977.
Thomas joined Morgan Stanley in 1987 and has been actively involved in the firm’s real estate business since that time. He began managing the real estate investing business in 1994, was named managing director in 1995 and head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate in 2000. He is a trustee of the Urban Land Institute, vice chairman of the Pension Real Estate Association and a member of the Real Estate Roundtable. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard Business School.