Speculation earlier this year had Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons either running for mayor of New York City this year or taking a Cabinet appointment in the Obama administration.
The New York Daily News explains why Parsons probably did not choose public life: "Even his closest associates didn't know he also was wrestling with a personal crisis -- how to tell his wife and three children he has fathered a child with another woman. Parsons and model-philanthropist MacDella Cooper are the parents of a baby girl named Ella."
Said Parsons: "This is a private matter, and I prefer not to talk about it at this time."