Gramaglia to Replace Levinson as President of E-Trade Group

E-Trade Group Inc., the No. 2 online broker, on Wednesday named marketing chief Jerry Gramaglia as president and chief operating officer, succeeding Kathy Levinson, who is retiring to focus on philanthropy.

Gramaglia, 44, spent more than two decades marketing everything from fruit juice to long-distance service before joining the company in June 1998. In his new post, Gramaglia will report to Christos Cotsakos, chairman and chief executive.

Levinson, who joined E-Trade in 1995, was named president in January 1999. She owned 1.75 million shares as of Sept. 30. Those shares would be worth more than $20 million now. She was paid $920,338 in salary and bonus in 1999, up from $359,661 in 1998.

E-Trade shares fell $1.81 to close at $13.94 on Nasdaq.

Last year, Levinson and her partner gave $300,000 to fight a California ballot proposition banning same-sex marriages. Levinson is a director of PlanetOut Corp., an online portal for gays and lesbians.

“Kathy and I have been discussing her growing desire to spend more time on her philanthropic and community service interests,” Cotsakos said. “Kathy has been, and always will be, an important member of the extended E-Trade family.”

Levinson issued a statement saying, “My particular interests include helping young girls establish strong foundations to prepare them to be tomorrow’s leaders, mentoring women entrepreneurs and promoting diversity in the workplace, as well as throughout society.”