The Fletcher School

On Dec. 18, more than 130 Tufts and Fletcher alumni, as well as leaders from the worlds of business, finance and higher education, gathered at Citigroup's headquarters in New York City for a ceremony to formally install Laurent L. Jacque as the first holder of the Walter B. Wriston Chair of International Business Relations.

Jacque, professor of International Finance and Banking and director of the International Business Relations Program at Fletcher, delivered the inaugural lecture, entitled "Financial Development and the Wealth of Nations: Revisiting the Emerging Capital Markets Hypothesis."

On hand for the occasion were Walter Wriston, the former Chairman and CEO of Citibank [now Citigroup] in whose honor the endowed chair has been named, and his wife Kathy; Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weil; Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow; James Stern and Nathan Gantcher, Tufts Trustees Chairman and former Chairman, respectively; Stephen W. Bosworth, Dean of The Fletcher School; and Fletcher's Board Chairman Peter Ackerman.

The Wriston chair builds on Fletcher's expanding international business program and complements the Citigroup/Wriston Scholarship Fund already in place at Fletcher which supports students who are interested in international business and the global marketplace. The new chair grew out of a $2 million gift from Walter Wriston and his wife Kathy to endow Fletcher's first faculty chair in the international business area.

President Bacow delivered welcoming remarks. Calling Wriston "a global citizen," he said: "Walter has been lauded as the pioneer who built a global organization long before 'global' was a buzz word. He was never afraid to take risks, and to learn from his experiences."

Dean Bosworth noted that a sizable contingent of Fletcher and Tufts alumni -- about 75 -- currently work at Citigroup. "Fletcher is very proud to call Walter [F '42] one of our own," he said. "This gift builds upon the existing partnership we have with the Wristons and with Citigroup. This relationship already supports an existing endowed scholarship fund known as the Citicorp-Wriston Scholars Program which aids annually 'five men or women of the highest character, integrity, scholarship and all-around ability at Fletcher'….We hope our partnership lasts for many years to come."

Even in retirement, Wriston, now 84, remains a towering figure on Wall Street, still writing op-ed pieces for newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, still sought out by other business leaders and journalists for advice. After all, he headed Citigroup, and its principal subsidiary, Citibank, for 17 years, retiring in 1984 after having been with the company for 38 years.

Under Wriston's leadership, Citibank expanded nationwide, helped pioneer the use of automatic-teller-machine cards, and became a leading player in the credit card business. He was also a pioneer in building a global organization long before the word ''globalization'' came into vogue. He had a strong commitment recruiting women as managers which, in the view of management guru Peter Drucker, was perhaps his most significant accomplishment.

More than just an expert on banking, Wriston is regarded as an authority on the financial markets, corporate America and the history of Wall Street. A Reuters' reporter in 2002 recalled his "storied business career." And, in a 2002 article in Money Magazine, CNN's Lou Dobbs hailed him as "one of the pre-eminent financial minds of our time."

At an elegant lunch in Citigroup's Executive Dining Room, Wriston talked to those gathered about one of his favorite themes --- corporate governance in an age of financial scandal: "Although the velocity of change in the world is fast and getting faster," he said, "there is one thing that never changes, and I hope that it will always be stressed in any discussion of international business and finance. That is the overriding importance of integrity."