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American Morning

Gore Has New Position as Vice Chairman of Financial Services Holding Company

Aired November 21, 2001 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this Thanksgiving, former presidential candidate Al Gore may be giving thanks for a new job. That's right, the former vice president says that he still has not decided whether or not he will run again for the race he narrowly lost to George W. Bush, but for now, Gore has a new position, vice chairman of Metropolitan West Financial. It's a financial services holding company.

Now, Gore's boss, the chairman and CEO of MetWest Financial joins us live from Los Angeles, and we thank you very much for your time this morning. Let me first of all, Mr. Hollander, as a matter of fact, we didn't put his name up on the screen.

First of all, let me ask you about this, as I understand it, this idea came out of you having a lunch with Al Gore and you sat down and talked with him, and something sparked inside of you, and made you think he would be a great addition to your company. What was that?

RICH HOLLANDER, METROPOLITAN WEST FINANCIAL: Well, Leon, you know in the 10 years that Metropolitan West Financial has been in business, we have always looked to track talent, and the focus for our company is bringing in the very intelligent people with a high level of integrity. And for us, and I thought that it was a great fit to have Al Gore be part of our team, and it wasn't something that we sat down at lunch day one and thought would be -- this would be something we would try on work on. But it was evident to me he had a great grasp of the global markets, had great exposure there, and also, in the private equity area, he had spent so much time in biotech and information technology, and those are areas we focus on going forward.

HARRIS: Yes, but you know what, he has not been a member of the private sector since when? This surprised me when I read about this, because he has never run a business of his own. He's been a teacher, he's been an educator, he was a journalist at one time, back when he was in the service, and then he's been in politics for years and years. Are you not concerned at all that he might be looking at this as some chance to make contacts for campaign donations down the road?

HOLLANDER: Leon, no, I'm not really concerned with that. Every person inside of our company is, you know, our focus is about business, not about politics, and I don't suggest Al Gore is going to look the at world any differently while he was working with MetWest Financial. HARRIS: Did you talk about that? Did you get it into the contract that he can't run for president while he is there employed with you?

HOLLANDER: The only thing we talked about was, you know, he clearly made it evident that he was excited about working with MetWest Financial. I know that the individual is someone that likes to win at whatever he does, and he gives it his best, and he is an extremely bright man with a high level of integrity. And there is no question in my mind he will make this a very positive move for himself and for MetWest Financial.

HARRIS: This will definitely open a lot of doors down the road for your company, when you can tell folks that that's who you got on board with you. Is he going to be moving to L.A.? There is some of us having a hard time imagining him with a pair of Oakleys cruising down with a drop-top and all that stuff in L.A., as folks like to do out there.

HOLLANDER: Well, actually, I don't possess any of the above, to be honest with you. But he is going to be spending a lot of time in Los Angeles. But our whole game plan is about global expansion and moving into private equity and biotech and information technology, and you know, he's going to be on the road a lot, and you know, mapping out strategies with the rest of the MetWest financial team, and that doesn't necessarily require being in L.A. full time, but I'm sure he'll be comfortable for the time that he spends in Los Angeles.

HARRIS: No doubt.

HOLLANDER: Rich Hollander, thanks much. We sure appreciate you coming in.

HARRIS: All right, it's my pleasure. You have a happy Thanksgiving.

HOLLANDER: Same to you. Have a good one.

You Landed a good one there, big one, that's for sure.

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