Parsons Sipping Red Wine Calls Pandit Exit ‘Appropriate’

Former Citigroup Inc. Chairman Richard Parsons, who in 2011 awarded Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit a retention package valued at about $40 million, said the CEO’s departure last week was “appropriate.”

“You need seasoned, honed managers who can cause a 250,000, 300,000-personnel organization to march” with direction, Parsons said in a weekend interview at his Tuscan vineyard in Montalcino, Italy. “Vikram will tell you, ‘That’s not my bag.’”