Wintrust Financial Corp. said Monday it hired Timothy Crane to become its new CEO in May, as longtime head and co-founder Ed Wehmer prepares to retire.
Wehmer is stepping back after 31 years at the Rosemont, Illinois-based bank, which got its start in 1991 and where he became CEO in 1998. Wehmer, one of the
The last three decades "have exceeded my wildest expectations when I and a few brave hearted colleagues opened the first bank in 1991," Wehmer said in a news release.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to have created something special at Wintrust — a true community bank which has flourished due to our relentless focus on serving our customers and our communities," Wehmer said, adding that "now is the right time to pass the torch to Tim."
Crane joined the bank in 2008 and became its president in 2020. He was previously president at Harris Bankcorp in Chicago, which is now part of Bank of Montreal's BMO Harris. "Much of Wintrust's success in the past 15 years has Tim's fingerprints all over it," Wehmer said in the release.
The company is "well positioned to move forward" under Crane's leadership and is unlikely to make major strategic shifts in the near-term, RBC Capital Markets analyst Jon Arfstrom wrote in a note to clients.
"While we did not have a timeline in mind for this CEO transition announcement, it makes sense, and we continue to believe that management's strategic focus on building the franchise will remain unchanged," Arfstrom wrote.
The bank holding company has expanded steadily over the years, partly as a result of acquiring community banks within its footprint. It runs 15 community bank subsidiaries, including Wintrust Bank in Chicago, and has more than 170 locations in the greater Chicago area and southern Wisconsin. The company had roughly $52.9 billion in assets at the end of 2022.
"Mr. Wehmer's foresight and the company's disciplined approach ahead of the Great Financial Crisis, enabled them to accelerate growth in the subsequent decade," Arfstrom wrote.
H. Patrick Hackett Jr., the company's chairman, said the announcement is part of a "rigorous multi-year succession planning process" that the board and Wehmer developed.
Crane, meanwhile, said the bank will continue to focus on "world-class customer service, disciplined lending processes and activities, user-friendly technology and straightforward and transparent communications."
