An explanation of what banks do inspired Doris Meister, chair and CEO, Wilmington Trust, to pursue a career in finance.
Meister, who grew up in Michigan, would travel to see her mother's family in New York. Her grandfather was the head of Prudential Savings Bank, and the young Meister would frequently visit him at his office. On one trip, Meister asked her father what banks do. "We were driving to lunch and we were going by all of these apartment buildings, and he said, "Well, banks make it possible to build buildings like these apartment buildings and help people live there. Or they help people buy a home. Banks make the economy work,'" she recalled.
Her first industry job after college was at Harris Bank working in foreign exchange. She next got her MBA at University of Chicago Booth School of Business and then joined McKinsey & Company as a consultant in their financial institutions group. Meister stayed at McKinsey for five years, and while she enjoyed working with banks and financial services companies, she said that she wasn't cut out to be a management consultant: "We would do really great strategy work but the client would just file it on a shelf. That was one of the things that made me leave."
Next, Meister, who calls herself a "builder-fixer," joined First Boston on the institutional side of the business. She was the first chief of staff for fixed income sales and trading, and after a couple of years, she was given the opportunity to turn around a business and fell in love with the process.
By the early 1990s, however, Meister said that institutional businesses were becoming more transactional and what she enjoyed the most about her work was the relationship component of working with colleagues and clients. At that time, she thought there was a "tremendous amount of opportunity" in wealth management, so she changed the course of her career. "It was the best decision I've ever made," she said.
She worked in wealth management at Merrill Lynch and AllianceBernstein for five-year stints and then joined BNY Mellon as the co-president of U.S. markets. She spent nearly seven years at BNY Mellon before she was recruited by M&T Bank in 2016 to turn around Wilmington Trust, its wholly owned wealth management subsidiary.
"What started out as a 'come in and create more of a growth culture' morphed into 'we are going to transform this whole company and build a good-sized boutique with a great brand that is going to be comprehensive in its capabilities,'" she told American Banker in her 2023 Most Powerful Women in Finance
In her nearly eight-year tenure, Meister has built the now-$79 billion assets under management Wilmington into a respected brand. Meister noted two significant changes she implemented recently. She looked at broker dealers who serve affluent clients with $3 million or less. "These broker dealers don't make much money for banks, but they need to have them," she said. In order to maximize profitability, Meister decided to outsource Wilmington's platform — all of the clearing and operations, compliance work and the digital platform for advisors and clients. "It's been a home run. We've ended up with lower costs, better risk management, better profitability and a better client experience," she said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Wilmington has created a virtual family office for its ultra-high net worth clients. The platform offers an "a la carte menu of critical services" for clients who want to start a family office or are tired of managing their own.
In mid-February, Meister announced that she would be leaving Wilmington Trust in May. She's going to start a consulting firm that will advise firms in private equity and fintech within wealth management. The move will also allow her to join boards and focus on her builder-fixer skill set.
"Wilmington was a giant transformation. I was hired with a mandate to take a renowned brand and really make it work for clients today and enable it to grow and be more successful. So we've done that. I'm just not an 'execute and maintain' kind of leader, so it's a good time for me to leave," she said.
On leadership
Meister said that the example her parents set shaped the way she leads. "I had very caring parents and they taught us the importance of a good work ethic, of being kind to people and being thoughtful and polite," she said.
Meister believes that great leaders care about their people, and are able to attract and retain the best talent because of their empathy. And the same dynamic works for clients as well as colleagues. "I have a set of values and principles that guide me in terms of integrity and ethical behavior. Do what's right for the client, treat your people well as you would like to be treated and be as transparent and present as you can be," she said.
She added that as executives rise higher in an organization, there is a tendency for senior leaders to become more detached and aloof. Meister said she has been very careful to not let that happen, and has spent a lot of time traveling to other offices and spending time with both colleagues and clients. "That's when I hear what's not working. I ask them deliberately about what is not going well and not what they think will make me feel good to hear. That's what I think good leaders do."
Advice to women in the industry
In 1979, when Meister joined McKinsey, there were very few women at the company — or in the industry as a whole. "It was hard. It was hard to know how to act. It was hard to know how to carry yourself. It took time to find confidence in my voice," she recalled.
One of her saving graces, she said, was her willingness to take risks. "I got ahead by volunteering to do things that the men didn't want to do because it was too risky. It was new or it needed to be fixed, and that's actually what I liked doing," she said.
Meister coaches about 20 women at Wilmington, and says that one of the issues that hold women back is that they don't self-promote. "They don't want to blow their own horn because it feels like bragging. So I tell them that they shouldn't regard it as self-promotion. They should talk about the work they've done because other people can benefit from what you've learned and what you've done," she said.
She recalled an instance in the past where she doubted her own capability. Meister was about 10 years out of business school and was offered a big promotion. "I literally went home, thinking to myself, 'I can't take this. I'm not ready.'" She told her husband, Gil, about the offer but said she wasn't going to take it because she didn't think she could handle it. "He said to me, and I'll never forget it, 'Oh for goodness sake, do you think a guy ever thinks for one minute that he couldn't do it? Take the job.'"
Because of that experience, and in keeping with her builder-fixer mindset, Meister helps her mentees understand the way they hold themselves back. "Women tend to think other people are more experienced or better or they know more, so we doubt our own capabilities."
She also coaches women on how to talk about pay. "The money thing is important because women have a tendency not to ask for money, not to negotiate and not to stick up for themselves," she said.
Another piece of advice to women in the industry is to be deliberate and thoughtful about the organization they choose to work for. "Do your homework and pick the best option that will be a good fit for your values and be yourself and thrive," she advised. Once there, Meister said, women should be prepared to work hard and work on their people skills. "Being able to work with others, to collaborate, is very, very important. You want to work on not only your analytical ability — your ability to think the problems through and come up with solutions — but you also have to think about how I am going to build consensus around ideas."
And finally, Meister said that everyone should have a vision for where their career is headed: "You have to figure out if you like what you're doing. Where can I be happy but also do really great work. And am I building my skills and experiences to keep me productive and on a good career path."
