Michael G. Cherkasky

Michael G. Cherkasky is President and Chief Executive Officer of Kroll, Inc.

According to his corporate biography, ''Michael G. Cherkasky ... joined Kroll in February 1994 after a 16-year career in the criminal justice system as a trial attorney, administrator and investigator. He is a former chief of the Investigations Division for the New York County District Attorney's Office where he investigated fraud, corruption, money laundering, organized crime figures such as John Gotti, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

"At Kroll, Mr. Cherkasky initially founded and headed Kroll Monitoring Services, which provides independent inspection and monitoring services, primarily in support of court orders. He has personally handled numerous monitoring assignments. For example, in 1994, he was appointed the compliance officer for the Long Island carting industry with responsibility for investigating corruption and overseeing compliance by some of New York's largest garbage companies. In 1995, he served as advisor to the Orange County, Calif., Grand Jury during their derivatives investigation, and in 1997, he was appointed election officer for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, responsible for supervising and conducting the re-run election of IBT officers. In June 2001, he was appointed independent monitor responsible for overseeing major reforms in the Los Angeles Police Department mandated by a federal court consent decree.

"Mr. Cherkasky was named chief of Kroll's New York Office in 1995, and chief of its North American Region in 1996. In 1997, he was promoted to chief operating officer and executive managing director. He was named president and chief operating officer of Kroll Associates in December 1997, when the firm merged with O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt. He assumed the additional position of president and chief executive officer of The Kroll-O'Gara Company in May 2001. The company was renamed Kroll Inc. in August 2001.

"Early in his career, Mr. Cherkasky served as a law clerk in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He then served as an assistant district attorney in New York County from 1978-1985, and again in 1985-1993, serving in various capacities. In 1983, he was appointed as a deputy bureau chief of trial bureau 40, and was responsible for supervising over 30 lawyers and prosecuting thousands of criminal complaints. In 1984, at the age of 34, he was appointed bureau chief of trial bureau 40, the youngest person to serve in that position at that time. In May 1985, Mr. Cherkasky left the District Attorney's office to run the re-election campaign of Robert Morgenthau. He returned to the office in October of 1985. In June 1986, Mr. Cherkasky was appointed to head the Rackets Bureau and in January, 1990, was appointed the head of the Investigations Division of the New York County District Attorney's Office.

"A native of the Bronx, Mr. Cherkasky graduated from the Fieldston School and received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University."


 * Director, Partnership for New York City