"When Sandy and I discussed his potential service, he reminded me of his full agenda as CEO of Citigroup and the demands upon his time. He only reluctantly agreed to serve and was adamantly opposed to engaging in a public debate over his qualifications to do so.
"The nominating committee and I both felt, given Sandy's extraordinary accomplishments over the past 40 years, that he would have been a valuable contributor to our Board. Recognizing the initiatives that he and Citigroup have put in place to restore investor confidence, just last week Institutional Shareholder Services ranked Citigroup's corporate governance superior to 97.1% of all companies in the S&P 500 and 100% of all diversified financial services companies.
"I regret deeply that we will not have the benefit of his contribution, but I have no choice but to understand and respect his wishes. I will relay his sentiments to our nominating committee."
