He was previously Vice Chairman of Citigroup and CEO of Citigroup International from 1998 to 2004; and Chairman and CEO of Salomon Brothers from 1992–97, a firm he joined in 1983.
He earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, and was brought on by the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers, where he served as adviser on their handling of the privatizations of British Airways, British Gas plc and the French Compagnie Financière de Suez, during the late 1980s.
When he retired from the film business, Cortez returned to New York, working as a stockbroker for Salomon Brothers on Wall Street.
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In 1995, Wittig, having earned millions in New York, was asked to return to Kansas as an executive at Western Resources (later renamed Westar Energy) by John E. Hayes, then CEO of Western and a customer of Wittig's at Salomon Brothers.
A fierce series of negotiations and proposals ensued which involved nearly all of the major private equity players of the day, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers, First Boston, Wasserstein Perella & Co., Forstmann Little, Shearson Lehman Hutton, and Merrill Lynch.
Gutfreund was featured prominently in the 1989 book Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, a former employee of Salomon Brothers.