Michael Cherkasky: Now in Public Hotseat, Has Quieter Repute in Larchmont

by Judy Silberstein

(October 28, 2004) Larchmont residents who know Michael Cherkasky only as a neighbor

Mike Cherkasky: courtesy of Chief Executive Magazine

may have been surprised to learn that he had stepped in as head of the beleaguered insurance company, Marsh & McLennan, on Monday, October 25, and has been in the national media spotlight ever since. Around Larchmont, he’s knows more as a soccer coach than as a major player on the national business scene. For over ten years he coached soccer teams for all four of his children, who range in age from 25 to 11, and also served as one of Larchmont’s soccer commissioners.

“If you want to find him on a Saturday morning, “ said Betsy Cherkasky, his wife of 35 years, “he’s either at Stop and Shop, Tony’s Nursery or outside gardening.” With his new job, however, he may be hard to find for the next couple of Saturdays.

Mr. Cherkasky’s company has been in the news since October 14 when NY State District Attorney Eliot Spitzer announced he was suing Marsh & McLennan Cos. for allegedly steering “unsuspecting clients to insurers with whom it had lucrative payoff agreements, and soliciting “rigged bids for insurance contracts.” On October 25, the embattled chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Greenberg, stepped aside and was replaced by Mr. Cherkasky.

The Attorney General cited “installation of new leadership” along with other measures in his decision to move forward with “a civil resolution of our lawsuit” rather than corporate criminal prosecution.

“Mike is a straight arrow, and that’s what the company needs,” said Larchmont resident Ron Goldstock, the former head of the New York Organized Crime Task Force, who knows Mr. Cherkasky both in his Larchmont and his professional persona. “He knows how to deal with problems and manage people, and he has the respect of the people in the law enforcement community, including the attorney general,” added Mr. Goldstock. Mr. Cherkasky was Eliot Spitzer’s boss at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office back in the 1990’s when both were investigating organized crime.

Another Larchmont attorney who knows Mr. Cherkasky both as a soccer dad and from his organized crime fighting days is Jerry Bernstein, now a Larchmont Village judge, lawyer in private practice in Manhattan, and local soccer coach.

“The special thing about Larchmont is you see people on the soccer field who you also encounter in the work place,” said Judge Bernstein. “The special thing about Mike is that he has always been the same person whether he was in the DA’s office, running for Westchester District Attorney, working at Kroll, or now running Marsh. He’s maintained the same ‘regular guy’ character,” he added.

Around Larchmont, Mr. Cherkasky is also known as an “inspirational speaker,” advising newly inducted members of the Mamaroneck Honor Society on “rules to live by,” or speaking at the Larchmont Temple Brotherhood, or at a Mamaroneck Continuing Education program. Nationally, he’s called to speak at conferences and on television, often about the views he expressed in his 2002 book, Forewarned: Why the Government is Failing to Protect Us and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves.

Outside of Larchmont, Mike Cherkasky has held important positions that brought him into the public eye. For years with the Manhattan District’s Attorney’s office, he earned fame prosecuting organized crime figures, including John Gotti, and participating in the investigation of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. In 1993 he ran unsuccessfully for Westchester County District Attorney as a Democrat losing to current D.A. Jeanine Pirro. Since then he’s been with Kroll (“The Risk Consulting Company”), first as a managing director and ultimately as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kroll, Inc. There he’s been involved with investigations of corruption by New York garbage companies, overseeing elections of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and monitoring federally mandated reforms of the Los Angeles Police Department.

This summer, Kroll was purchased by Marsh & McLennan, considered the “world’s largest insurance broker,” and only a few months later, the company landed on Eliot Spitzer’s hot seat.