"Quiet Natixis settlement comes into public view; Harassment by CEO alleged" by Beth Healy and Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff November 19, 2014
They were the kind of allegations that have toppled some chief executives.
In January 2011, the Boston investment giant Natixis Global Asset Management struck a seven-figure settlement to make some troubling accusations against its chief, John Hailer, go away. A senior saleswoman had sued the company after being fired in 2008 — the day after telling human resources she was pregnant with her second baby, and months after allegedly rebuffing sexual advances by Hailer.
The company denied the allegations of harassment and discrimination in court filings and said the saleswoman was fired for poor performance. But Natixis, part of a large French bank, signed the settlement and moved on. Hailer resumed running one of the world’s largest investment firms.
The allegations were 180 degrees from Hailer’s public profile. He is credited with helping build Natixis into a significant Boston presence, managing $931 billion in mutual funds and retirement plans. The company has 1,400 employees here and supports charities benefiting homeless children, health care, and the arts.
Hailer, 53, even entertained a run for mayor, according to people who have worked with him. It was a long-simmering ambition for the son of a former Boston city councilor, and for a Roslindale native who grew up in a family of 10 kids.
In 2012, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus gave Hailer its Good Guys Award, for his “commitment to supporting and promoting women in the corporate world.” Mayor Thomas M. Menino last year named him to the Boston Public Library board, and he chairs the New England Council, a public policy group for business.
All this time, the Natixis settlement with former saleswoman Paula Rezza has remained out of the public eye. Even the trustees of the Natixis mutual fund board with whom Hailer meets several times a year did not know about it.
The fund board at the time included high-profile academics and business people, among them Charlie Baker, the governor-elect of Massachusetts and a relative of Hailer’s by marriage. Baker and the chair of the trustees, Sandra O. Moose, a former management consultant, said they were unaware of the allegations or the settlement until the Globe’s inquiry.
The lawsuits are publicly available in federal court in Chicago and online. Information from those suits provides a more detailed look at the case, which was first reported by the Globe last month.
See: After 2010, Charlie Baker’s business options rich with complications
And he is the new governor. Great.
Natixis said it alerted its corporate board in Paris, which has responsibility for employment and operations issues. The company said it had no obligation to tell the mutual fund trustees in Boston — a point sharply disputed by several experts contacted by the Globe.
“We took this complaint seriously and ultimately agreed to settle this matter in early 2011 to avoid further costs and distractions of litigation,’’ the company said in a statement through spokeswoman Caren Leedom. “We followed rigorous governance and reporting processes — our corporate board chairman, all corporate board members, and the corporate audit committee were aware of the matter throughout.”
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Hailer (pronounced “Hiler”) joined Natixis in 1999 from Fidelity Investments. Though not a household name, Natixis owns brands like the Boston bond firm Loomis, Sayles & Co., and AlphaSimplex Group, run by MIT’s Andrew Lo.
The investment arm of Paris-based Groupe BPCE, Natixis employs 3,400 people worldwide. The company plans to be the anchor tenant at a Back Bay tower that will open in 2017 near the Prudential Center and is projected to be Boston’s greenest office building yet. At a ceremony last month, Hailer said the tower’s design was a match for Natixis’s culture.
“It’s about the people, and the spirit that you want to put inside that structure,’’ Hailer told an audience of about 75.
In 2006, Hailer was living on Beacon Street, separated from his wife. He was known for late nights, wining and dining his staff at Grill 23 and Via Matta, according to interviews with current and former employees and Hailer’s July 2010 deposition in the Rezza case.
Nothing good ever happens after midnight.
It was en route to one such outing, in August 2007, that Hailer allegedly propositioned Rezza, the lawsuits said.
Rezza was a managing regional director for Natixis, in town from Chicago for a company sales conference. After a day’s meetings, she allegedly encountered Hailer as they and others headed to meet colleagues at the Rattlesnake Bar on Boylston Street.
“I know this is inappropriate, but I have always found you very attractive,” Hailer told Rezza, according to one of the two lawsuits she later filed. He allegedly asked her to go with him to the nearby Four Seasons Hotel, instead of to the bar.
Rezza declined. “I love my family and my job; no thank you,’’ she said, according to one lawsuit. She immediately mentioned what she called a “weird” encounter to a male colleague, who described her reaction in a deposition.
The next day, Hailer allegedly approached her to mend fences. “Hey, we are cool right? I didn’t mean anything by what I said last night,” he said, according to one of the lawsuits.
Natixis and Hailer denied in court filings and depositions that the exchanges took place.
According to court records, Rezza felt complaining about Hailer’s alleged behavior would sink her career. Since having a baby the prior year, she was already under pressure to boost her performance....
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Just another sickening scum that makes up the ruling cla$$.
