A top CEO shows indications of alcoholism: Sallie Mae’s Albert Lord
Under watch:
Sallie Mae’s Chief Executive Albert L. Lord, cagily declining to properly respond to a number of questions in a conference call from investors about the student-loan company’s finances and strategies. Reacting to investors’ anger, he pledged to answer many of the dodged questions at a meeting in January and promised, “I can assure you, you will be going through a metal detector,” an implicit acknowledgement that their wrath could turn lethal. He ended the call saying, “Let’s go. There’s [sic] no questions. Let’s get the [expletive] out of here.” Lord recently sold 97% (over 1.265 million shares) of his company stock, against which he had borrowed and apparently faced a margin call as the value of his holdings declined. He called it “embarrassing and troublesome to me personally.” Lord is known as a hard-charging executive with a brusque manner. Clue # 9, “has recurring financial difficulties” in the chapter, “Poor Judgment” in How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics suggests he is privately known as a heavy drinker and that, perhaps, a few of his closest family and professional confidants stand at the receiving end of at least verbal abuse, if not worse.