A Dozen Who Shaped the 80s

California’s image as a pacesetter held up fairly well in the 1980s in the world of business and economics. Californians were a force for dramatic change.

Some achieved change on a grand scale--inspiring a revolution in economic policy or transforming corporate finance. Some of the change may seem minor, but it altered our daily routines and our life styles. Some business people built firms that are monuments to America’s spirit of enterprise; others brought companies to ruin and became symbols of corporate recklessness.

Here is a sampling of California residents who gave American business a 1980s makeover--making it better, or worse, or just more fun.

A. W. CLAUSEN

A.W. (Tom) Clausen--as BankAmerica Corp.’s once and future chief executive in the 1980s--was the architect both for one of the decade’s biggest corporate declines and one of its biggest comebacks.

He was blamed for many of BankAmerica’s troubles earlier in the decade, such as leaving its Bank of America unit with a huge portfolio of Latin American loans that soured, as well as building an inefficient, bloated bank with an outmoded computer system.

BankAmerica’s problems went beyond those loans: Key executives left amid turmoil, morale was low, the bank suffered an embarrassing mortgage scandal, and its stock was battered on Wall Street. So vulnerable was BankAmerica that First Interstate Bancorp launched an unsolicited $3.4-billion takeover bid in late 1986 that BankAmerica ultimately fought off.

Yet it also was Clausen who returned to lead BankAmerica through a Chrysler-like turnaround. Clausen, 66, had left BankAmerica, the San Francisco-based parent of Bank of America, in 1981 to head the World Bank. BankAmerica was a shambles when Clausen was asked by its board to return in 1986 to replace his successor, Samuel H. Armacost, who resigned under fire.

Under Clausen, BankAmerica became profitable again by slashing costs, improving loan quality, selling assets and pushing consumer banking. More important, Clausen brought in a team of key executives to work the turnaround, notably former Seafirst Corp. President Richard M. Rosenberg, 59, who is now BankAmerica vice chairman and the executive considered most likely to succeed Clausen.

But the clout that BankAmerica once enjoyed worldwide has diminished from the days when it was the nation’s largest bank.

Clausen has not indicated when he may retire. Observers speculate that he may leave in a year or two.