Frank Gustave Zarb is an American businessman and former
Republican politician. He is perhaps best known as the Chairman and CEO of the
NASDAQ stock exchange during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. He is also
known for his role as the "Energy Czar" under President Gerald Ford
during the 1970s energy crisis.
Frank Zarb was born to Maltese immigrant parents Gustave
Zarb and Rosemary (Antinoro) Zarb in Brooklyn, New York. In 1957 he received
his Bachelor of Business Administration at Hofstra University, then known as
Hofstra College, on Long Island. Following his time in the army, he went on to
earn a Master of Business Administration from Hofstra in 1962.
Following a term of service in the army from 1957 to 1958,
Frank started at CITGO, then known as Cities Service Oil Co, as a management
trainee. Leaving that post in 1962, he became a general partner at Goodbody and
Company. In 1969 he became the executive vice president of CBWL-Hayden Stone.
In 1971 Frank went into public service, serving first as Assistant
Secretary of Labor (1971–1972), then as Associate Director of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) (1973–74). Finally in 1974 he was appointed
"Energy Czar" by President Ford, holding dual appointments in the
Energy Resources Council and the Federal Energy Administration until 1977.
After leaving the federal government in 1977, Zarb became a
senior partner at Lazard (1977–1988), CEO and Chairman of Smith Barney
(1988–1993), and group chief executive of Travelers Group (1993–1994). In 1994,
he was appointed CEO of insurance brokerage company Alexander & Alexander
Services, Inc. and then oversaw that company's sale to Aon Corp. in 1997.
Shortly after crafting the LIPA Purchase of LILCO in 1998
(as the chairman of LIPA) Zarb became the Chairman and CEO of the National
Association of Securities DealersFrom 1997 to 2001, (NASD) and head of the
NASD's stock exchange, the NASDAQ.
Following his retirement from NASD, Zarb became a managing director
of Hellman & Friedman, which subsequently acquired a controlling stake in
Nasdaq shortly after it was spun off from NASD.
In 2005, Zarb replaced his long-time friend Maurice Hank
Greenberg as head of the American International Group, in what Greenberg termed
as a "palace coup." At the time, Greenberg was battling charges by
then-New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, who (along with the SEC) was
investigating AIG for potentially engaging in accounting improprieties.
In 1974, Hofstra University gave Zarb the Distinguished
Scholar award in recognition of his contributions to the University. In 1975 he
was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Hofstra in recognition
of his contributions to the University. In 1994, the School of Business at
Hofstra was renamed the Frank G. Zarb School of Business in recognition of his
service as the Chairman of the University's Board of Trustees. In 2008 the Zarb
School alumni association was created in his honor.
Zarb serves as an "Executive in Residence" at
Columbia Business School, the graduate school of business at Columbia University
in the City of New York.
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