Soon after taking over as chairman in April, Mr. O'Neill put himself in charge of the five-person board group that sets executive pay.

WSJ: Cit Awards CEO $11.5 Million in Pay

On the federal level, because this is going to be such a big job, I wanted to assign one particular person who would be in charge from our perspective, who would be our point person -- because FEMA basically runs the recovery process, it doesn't focus on the rebuilding.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Tours Storm Damage in New York City

For 12 years baseball commissioner Allan (Bud) Selig has been the walking definition of a conflict of interest--serving as both a team owner and the person in charge of the game.

FORBES: Buddy System