CIBC: A Fork in the Road

I will never forget the evening of Tuesday, 2 April 1999 – and nor should any director, employee, or shareholder, past or present, of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. I had been working at CIBC since 1987, first as the financial services industry analyst at its securities arm, CIBC Wood Gundy, and then as chief strategy adviser to Al Flood, who took the reins as the bank’s chairman and chief executive in 1992. Working at Al’s side, I was fortunate to be privy for seven years to almost every major move that the bank’s board and its senior managers