JPMorgan names Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh co-chairmen; Outings from Lake Marianne

JPMorgan Chase on Thursday, promoted two of its top executives to newly created co-chairman positions, marking the latest step in long-running CEO Jamie Dimon’s succession planning, while also announcing the retirement of one of Dimon’s most prominent potential successors.

Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, who have jointly led the bank’s commercial and investment banking division since early 2024, have been named co-presidents of JPMorgan effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing.

As part of the changes, Petno becomes sole CEO of the commercial and investment banking division, while Rohrbaugh will take over as CEO of the company’s consumer and community banking division, replacing Marianne Lake.

“The decision to elevate Doug and Troy to co-presidents and officers of the company’s two largest businesses reflects the board’s confidence in their extraordinary leadership abilities, business performance, relationships, experience and commitment to always doing the right thing,” Dimon said in a statement.

Lake, a 25-year JPMorgan veteran who had been on Dimon’s shortlist of potential successors since he served as CFO starting in 2013, has decided to retire from the company, according to the filing.

The moves are reshaping the management team led by Dimon, 70, who has repeatedly said the bank’s board has several executives capable of eventually becoming CEO. By placing Petno and Rohrbaugh at the helm of the company’s two most important operating businesses while elevating them to co-chairmen, JPMorgan provides both executives with broader management experience at a crucial time.

That would appear to make one of the two men the most obvious successor to Dimon, whose eventual departure has been one of the most closely watched issues on Wall Street.

As Petno takes sole control of the key Wall Street and commercial banking group he co-led for a few years, Rohrbaugh will now learn consumer banking after a career in institutional trading and markets, a key step in expanding his resume.

Dimon said Lake, who took sole leadership of the consumer banking division in 2024, was “an exceptional partner and friend and dedicated her career to advocating for our employees and customers, building world-class businesses and delivering results, always with unquestioned integrity.”

In another sign of their new status at the top of the succession list, Petno and Rohrbaugh each received one-time restricted stock bonuses valued at $30 million.

That’s far more than the $20 million awarded to asset and wealth management CEO Mary Erdoes, another possible successor to Dimon, and COO Jennifer Piepszak. Last year, Piepszak signaled that she wanted to be excluded from the shortlist for succession.

The awards are separate from annual executive compensation and only vest after three years if JPMorgan achieves an average return on tangible equity of at least 12% between 2026 and 2028. Executives must also remain in office during this period, without vesting upon retirement, termination of employment or government service.

The bank said the awards were aimed at “preserving the most qualified internal succession candidates” and maintaining continuity within its operating committee during any future leadership transitions.

During his 20-year reign at the helm of JPMorgan, Dimon oversaw the rise of a mid-sized institution to become the largest U.S. bank by assets and the world’s largest lender by market capitalization.

But whenever the topic of succession planning came up, Dimon said retirement was always five years away, which became a running joke within the company. During this period, several MPs went on to lead other organizations after losing patience that the top job would ever become available.

About two years ago, however, Dimon reported that his retirement date, obscure as it was, was drawing near.

“The timeline is no longer five years,” Dimon said at the bank’s 2024 annual investor meeting.