Board Experience May Boost Investor Confidence in Sallie Mae Public Stock Offering

In an effort to recover from the unsuccessful move of betting on its own stock price, student-loan giant SLM Corp (Sallie Mae) announced that it plans on raising $2.5 billion through a public stock offering. Shares have fallen significantly since the failed buyout attempts earlier in the year, with the company now desperate to make up for its losses. Sallie Mae had originally agreed to purchase its own shares at a set future price, expecting them to have increased substantially. Unfortunately for the company, its stock price failed to meet expectations, declining instead but leaving Sallie Mae responsible for paying billions (see article by John Hechinger in The Wall Street Journal).

Analysts aren’t completely convinced that a public offering could be enough for Sallie Mae to raise the needed funds. Investor confidence, however, could work to change their minds. NewsVisual created and IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to illustrate the corporate network of the leadership team behind Sallie Mae. Extensive experience and the right connections of the company’s Board of Directors could go far in convincing potential investors that Sallie Mae will be worth the buy and come out strong in the coming year.

As displayed in this Knowledge Map, Sallie Mae’s Directors have an impressive set of Board and Senior Executive experience. Every member of the company’s Board currently or has previously held Director or prominent Executive positions with other corporations, which adds up to a great amount of leadership experience as well as ties to the Board and Executive teams of other major companies. JP Morgan Chase, Allied Capital, MetLife, Arthur Anderson, RH Donnelley and PG&E are just a few of the notable entities that have had a current Sallie Mae Director serve on the Board or as a Senior Executive.

Such Board experience could certainly go far in settling fears that the company may not recover soon enough. Though certainly hit hard by the recent government slashing of student-loan company subsidies, Sallie Mae will likely rely on the extensive know-how and corporate connections of its Directors to promote greater innovation and strategies to combat its losses.

Click here or copy this link into your Internet Explorer browser for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=0ea70e76-ab7d-426d-a96c-43760c251cf0