As Sears' chief financial officer, Liddy spun off the retailer's subsidiary, Allstate, in 1993.
In his seven years as the head man, Liddy has never shied away from difficult decisions.
Liddy, who joined AIG after the bailout, said some employees have returned bonus money.
CNN: Dodd: Administration pushed for language protecting bonuses
Gordon Liddy, and which nearly closed the border with Mexico for ten days in 1969.
Even more important is that Liddy figures offering both types of insurance gives Allstate the ability to cross-sell.
Liddy's next goal was to restrict Allstate mostly to North America, where he believes growth prospects are stronger.
Liddy has also fled the sinkhole called nonstandard auto insurance--policies for bad drivers.
Gordon Liddy , sportscaster Tony Kornheiser , former National Public Radio host Bob Edwards and shock jocks Opie and Anthony .
Under Chief Executive Edward Liddy, 60, and his number two, Thomas J.
"We just didn't make any money there, " Liddy says, shrugging his shoulders.
Mr Liddy, meanwhile, will be urged to earn his dollar by disposing of AIG's assets and cutting the group's vast debt to the taxpayer.
Liddy and Wilson talk about how promptly and deftly the massive Allstate responded to catastrophe claims in the wake of Katrina and the other storms.
Allstate's Liddy has some justification to be nervous about New York.
Liddy is likely to get an earful from Congress on Wednesday.
Before Liddy came along, Allstate was a slow-acting, highly bureaucratic organization, says Steven Kauderer, managing director of the North American insurance practice at consultant Mercer Oliver Wyman.
Liddy, saying he knew that the public's patience is "wearing thin, " said some employees have decided on their own to return their entire bonuses to the company.
Liddy is stepping down in January (he will remain as chairman), to be succeeded as chief executive by kindred spirit Wilson, meaning any large strategic shift is unlikely.
"As he told Mr. Liddy, Secretary Geithner first learned the details of the AIG retention payments on March 10, just prior to their conversation, " said spokesman Isaac Baker.
For his part, Liddy, who took over at AIG in September, after the government stepped in, said he knew about the bonuses since October but determined they could not be legally altered.
"We have to continue managing our business as a business -- taking account of the cold realities of competition for customers, for revenues and for employees, " Liddy told a House Financial Services subcommittee.
CNN: Dodd: Administration pushed for language protecting bonuses
Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski, the hearing's chairman, responded to Liddy's statement by arguing that AIG should have refused to pay all the bonuses -- regardless of its contractual obligations with the bonus recipients.
CNN: Dodd: Administration pushed for language protecting bonuses
Perhaps that's because Liddy's background is outside insurance.
Liddy oversaw Allstate during turbulent times in the post-Katrina era, when most major home and commercial insurers increased premiums, ratcheted up deductibles and narrowed terms of coverage to absorb the shock of hurricane-related payouts.
According to Liddy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has known about them for three months and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner found out about the payments two weeks ago -- a week before Geithner has said he first heard of the bonuses from his staff.
"Making a decision that's good for the next two to three years and making a decision that's good for the next 20 to 30 years sometimes are at odds with each other, and being able to balance those two can sometimes be difficult, " Liddy said on the PBS program.
应用推荐