Great Western President Resigns 10 Months After Assuming Job

Robert B. Holmes, No. 2 man at Great Western Financial, Beverly Hills, is resigning after less than a year in his present job, the company announced Monday.

Holmes, president and chief operating officer of the giant financial services company, is leaving because “I would like to have one more chance to run a company on my own,” he said in a statement.

He had been president and chief executive of Miami-based Aristar, a consumer finance and life insurance company that Great Western acquired three years ago for $165 million. Holmes stayed on with Great Western and was named president and chief operating officer last October.

The 54-year-old Holmes was promoted to take some of the workload off James Montgomery, Great Western’s chairman and chief executive. However, Holmes had never been considered Montgomery’s heir apparent because the two men are about the same age.

A Great Western spokesman said that a “search is under way” for a successor to Holmes and that Montgomery will fill his job in the interim.

Although Holmes has yet to land a new job, he has told colleagues that he is considering several possibilities. An effective date for his resignation has not been set. Holmes’ previous jobs included a stint as president of Ticor from 1977 to 1981 and 13 years as a general partner for the investment banking firm of Lazard Freres.