J.P. Morgan Names Former Army Chief of Staff as Adviser -- Update

By Emily Glazer And Chelsey Dulaney 

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will bring on Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the recently retired chief of staff of the Army, as a senior adviser to the firm, the bank announced Thursday.

Starting Sept. 1, Gen. Odierno will advise the bank's board and Chief Executive James Dimon on topics such as the risks of doing business in various countries, technology and physical and cybersecurity.

The appointment comes as J.P. Morgan, the nation's largest bank by assets, has increased its spending on cybersecurity following a hack last summer that involved the theft of contact information for about 76 million households.

The bank said in a regulatory filing earlier this month that its annual cybersecurity budget is expected to nearly double this year to about $500 million.

J.P. Morgan operates in more than 60 countries, including across the Middle East and Africa, where there can be physical security risks that Gen. Odierno is expected to advise on.

Gen. Odierno's military career spanned more than 39 years, including tours of duty in both the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars. In a 2010 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gen. Odierno was described as Gen. David Petraeus's main partner throughout the surge of U.S. military force in Iraq that helped quell a violent insurgency.

More recently, Gen. Odierno worked on issues in Russia and pushed back on a suggestion by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that the way to counter Islamic State would be to seize Iraqi oil fields to eliminate one of the group's biggest sources of revenue.

"There are limits to military power," he said of the idea at the Pentagon days before his retirement earlier this month.

The New Jersey-born general, tall and stocky, is known for his trademark shaved head and a reputation for candor.

At J.P. Morgan, Gen. Odierno will help structure the firm's leadership training programs, sit on the firm's military and veterans affairs council, and will represent the bank in meetings with government officials and policy makers.

J.P. Morgan isn't the first bank to tap members of the U.S. military for their expertise. Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's largest bank by market value, in February named Suzanne M. Vautrinot, a retired Major General and Commander in the U.S. Air Force, to its board.

Write to Emily Glazer at [e-mail] and Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2015 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.