Who are banking's longest-tenured CEOs?

February 15, 2022 9:00 PM

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At some point soon, James Herbert’s 37-year tenure as CEO of First Republic Bank in San Francisco will come to an end.

Herbert, 77, is currently out on medical leave and is expected to return, but the $181 billion-asset First Republic said in January that it has engaged an executive search firm to find its next CEO. It’s momentous because Herbert founded First Republic in 1985 and has been the only CEO in the bank’s history. The announcement also got us thinking: Have any other CEOs of large or regional banks been in their roles since before ATMs became ubiquitous?

Turns out, the answer is yes. We did some research and found that, among the nation’s 100 largest bank holding companies, two CEOs have been at the helm of their banks longer than Herbert. There are also two others whose tenures date to the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s and several more who took over just when internet banking was becoming a thing.

So who are the industry’s most-seasoned CEOs, and what’s been their secret to longevity? Read on to find out.

David Zalman

Company: Prosperity Bancshares

Years as CEO: 21

There are serial acquirers, and then there’s David Zalman.

Prosperity had been a somewhat active bank purchaser during the 1990s, but its roll-up of community banks didn’t begin in earnest until Zalman took the helm in 2001.

In just his first five years as CEO, Zalman struck deals for 15 Texas community banks, roughly quadrupling Prosperity’s assets, to $4.6 billion, in the process. Zalman, 65, has since made another 17 acquisitions, building Prosperity into what is now Texas’s third-largest bank holding company, with $37.8 billion of assets.

Joseph DePaolo

Company: Signature Bank

Years as CEO: 21

Like several of the CEOs profiled below, Signature’s Joseph DePaolo co-founded his bank and remains CEO to this day.

What sets DePaolo apart from his counterparts, though, is that he has never relied on acquisitions to drive growth. Instead he’s built New York-based Signature into what is now one of the nation’s 40 largest banks largely by hiring established teams of commercial bankers who bring with them established books of business.

The $118 billion-asset Signature does business primarily in and around New York City, though in recent years it has expanded into California. It has opened five offices in the Golden State since 2019.

Matt Wagner

Company: PacWest Bancorp

Years as CEO: 22

Matt Wagner took the helm at what is now PacWest Bancorp in 2000 when it had less than $1 billion of assets. Today, it’s the fifth-largest bank holding company based in California, with $40.5 billion of assets.

Acquisitions have played a major role in PacWest’s growth.

At first, Wagner primarily targeted California community banks, acquiring roughly a dozen between 2001 and 2013, but two of his latest deals have been for specialty lenders with national platforms.

In 2014, PacWest paid roughly $2.3 billion to acquire CapitalSource Bank, a middle-market commercial lender based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in a deal that more than doubled PacWest’s size at the time. A year later it acquired Square 1 Bank, a tech-focused lender based Durham, North Carolina, for about $850 million.

Terry Turner

Company: Pinnacle Financial Partners

Years as CEO: 22

Pinnacle Bank opened for business in 2000 with a single location in Nashville. Today, it is the second largest bank based in Tennessee, with $38.5 billion of assets and 150 branches in 15 urban markets across the Southeast.

Terry Turner, 69, co-founded Pinnacle and has been CEO of the bank and its holding company, Pinnacle Financial Partners, ever since.

The company’s footprint was largely confined to Tennessee until 2017, when Pinnacle bought BNC Bancorp, the parent of Bank of North Carolina, for $1.9 billion. That deal instantly boosted its assets by nearly 70% and added dozens of branches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Ed Wehmer

Company: Wintrust Financial

Years as CEO: 24

Edward Wehmer co-founded Wintrust in 1996 and took over as the company’s CEO two years later.

Wintrust was founded as, and still is, a multi-bank holding company. Some of the nearly two-dozen community banks it has acquired on Wehmer’s watch have been consolidated, but most retained their brand names and local leadership.

Today, Wintrust has $50.1 billion of assets and 15 bank subsidiaries in Illinois and Wisconsin. It is based in Rosemont, Illinois.

Richard Fairbank

Company: Capital One Financial

Years as CEO: 28

Richard Fairbank co-founded Capital One in 1994 and quickly built it into one of the nation’s top credit card lenders — and most recognizable retail brands. Even toddlers can be heard saying, “What’s in your wallet?”

These days, of course, Capital One is much more, thanks to a buying spree in which Fairbank landed three regional banks — Hibernia Bank, North Fork Bank and Chevy Chase Bank — and a thriving online bank, ING Direct, in a span of six years. Today, McLean, Virginia-based Capital One is among the 10 largest commercial banks in the U.S., with $432 billion of assets and a retail presence in some of the nation’s most attractive markets, including New York, Texas and greater Washington, D.C.

Fairbank, 71, is also a part-owner of Monumental Sports, the group that owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Dominic Ng

Company: East West Bancorp

Years as CEO: 31

Dominic Ng was just 32 in 1991 when he became the CEO of East West, then a small savings and loan with just $600 million of assets.

Thirty-one years later he is still CEO, but Pasadena, California-based East West is a much different bank. With almost $61 billion of assets and 120 branches in the U.S. and China, it’s the fourth-largest bank based in California and by far the largest bank in the country catering to Asian Americans.

Ng, who was born in Hong Kong, is a frequent speaker on U.S.-China relations. He also serves on the board of toy manufacturer Mattel.

Harris Simmons

Company: Zions Bancorporation

Years as CEO: 32

Harris Simmons has worked at Zions for all of his adult life.

His father, Roy, was the bank’s longtime CEO, and Harris landed his first job there at 16, filing canceled checks. By age 27 he was the chief financial officer, and nine years later he succeeded his dad as CEO.

Zions was then the largest bank in Utah, with about $3 billion of assets, but had no presence outside of the state. That changed in 1993, when the Salt Lake City bank bought National Bancorp of Arizona for about $55 million. Under Simmons, Zions went on to acquire more than 30 banks over the next 15 years, including the $5.1 billion-asset Sumitomo Bank of California in 1998 and the $7.6 billion Amegy Bancorporation in Texas.

Today, Zions has $90 billion of assets and operations in 11 states.

James Herbert

Company: First Republic Bank

Years as CEO: 37

James Herbert founded First Republic in 1985 and over the next 22 years built it into one of the nation’s premier banks before selling it to Merrill Lynch in 2007 for about $1.8 billion.

Then the financial crisis happened, setting in motion an odd series of events that led to San Francisco-based First Republic again becoming a stand-alone bank, with Herbert at the helm.

Herbert continued to run First Republic when it was a division of Merrill Lynch and then Bank of America — which absorbed Merrill Lynch in 2008. Then he led the effort to buy back First Republic and take it public in late 2010.

In the years since, the bank has been on a growth tear — without the benefit of acquisitions. Its assets have grown by more than 800% over the last 11 years to $181 billion, and its stock price has increased by nearly 500%.

Herbert’s run as CEO appears to be winding down. He is on medical leave, and the company said in January that it has begun a search for its next CEO. If and when a new CEO is named, Herbert is expected to remain First Republic's chairman.

George Gleason

Company: Bank OZK

Years as CEO: 43

It was 1979 when a young George Gleason bought a tiny, $28 million-asset bank in Arkansas and took over as its CEO.

Today, what’s known as Bank OZK is a $26.5 billion-asset lender that's headquartered in Little Rock but has 240 offices in eight states.

Much of the growth has come through acquisitions, though Gleason didn’t really get aggressive until the financial crisis hit in 2008 and 2009. In a span of less than two years, the bank then known as Bank of the Ozarks absorbed eight failed banks in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. It then bought another eight banks between January 2013 and August 2016.

Richard Adams

Company: United Bankshares

Years as CEO: 47

The longest-serving CEO among the top 100 U.S. banks is Richard Adams, who has led United Bankshares and its predecessor bank, the Parkersburg National Bank in West Virginia, since 1975. He was just 28 back then.

Adams took the bank public in 1987 and over the next 35 years built it largely by buying up smaller banks throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

United now has $29 billion of assets and about 250 branches in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. It has dual headquarters in Washington and Charleston, West Virginia.