Joe Sullivan is cutting about 12 percent of his team worldwide, including half of his executive committee, three days after a familiar activist investor rejoined the company's board of directors.

Joseph A. Sullivan Legg Mason Global Asset Management Chairman & CEO

Bloomberg and the Baltimore Business Journal report that the Legg Mason [profile] CEO is laying off about 120 employees worldwide (out of about 1,000), per a memo from Sullivan. A Legg spokeswoman tells Bloomberg that nearly 100 of those cuts will be here in the U.S.

News of the cuts come after Trian Partners chief Nelson Peltz and a colleague joined Legg's board, trumpeting "significantly reducing costs" of their "three most important priorities" for Legg. Trian now owns about 4.5 percent of Legg.

The cuts will reportedly include four executive committee members: Fran Cashman, global head of marketing and communications, who will leave at the end of 2019; Tom Hoops, head of business development, who will also leave at the end of the year; John Kenney, global head of affiliate strategic initiatives, who will also leave at the end of 2019; and Ursula Schliessler, chief administrative officer, who will leave on July 1.

The remaining executive committee members will be: Terry Johnson, head of global distribution, who will also oversee marketing; Patty Lattin, chief human resources officer, who will also oversee facilities and real estate; Tom Merchant, general counsel, who will also become head of risk management; and Pete Nachtwey, chief financial officer, who will also oversee communications and affiliate relations. Meanwhile, Sullivan will gain three more direct reports: chief diversity officer Regina Curry, chief technology officer Dana Jackson; and M&A chief Jeff Nattans.

"The streamlined leadership team will be focused on meeting the evolving needs of our clients in a compelling and differentiated way, as well as implementing our strategic restructuring, both of which are critical to our success," Sullivan reportedly wrote in the memo.

The publicly traded, Baltimore-based multi-boutique has $758 billion in AUM. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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