A senior official at the Swiss bank Credit Suisse is leaving his post to join the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the New York Times’ DealBook reports.
Steven Koch, Credit Suisse’s co-chairman of mergers and acquisitions, will become one of Emanuel’s deputy mayors beginning Sept. 4, and "will succeed Mark Angelson, the former chief executive of R.R. Donnelly, who has served in the Emanuel administration since it took office last year," according to the report.
Koch told DealBook that he is very pleased to be entering the world of politics:
"I’m hugely excited because it’s a fascinating world, and it’s a fascinating new challenge," he told DealBook by telephone on Tuesday. "It’s just exciting to re-pot yourself."
Mr. Koch’s departure marks the end of a 27-year career at what has become Credit Suisse, one in which he advised on about $1 trillion worth of deals. A lawyer by training, he joined First Boston in 1985, having previously worked at Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb.
During that time, he rose through the ranks, eventually rising to his current role as a senior mergers executive at the firm. Among the deals that Mr. Koch has advised on were Fortune Brands’ spin-off of Beam Brands, the Aon Corporation’s takeover of Hewitt and Nestlé’s takeovers of Ralston Purina and Gerber.