Stanley J. Bradshaw, who built Roosevelt Financial Corp. of St. Louis into one of the nation's best-regarded thrifts before selling it to Mercantile Bancorp. last July, is calling it quits.
Mercantile announced last week that Mr. Bradshaw, the chief executive officer and president of its mortgage arm, Mercantile Credit Corp., will leave in July. He will have the title of chairman of the mortgage unit until then, but his other duties and titles have been assumed by John R. Elmore, who had been president of Mercantile Bank, Lawrence, Kan.
Analysts said they were not surprised that Mr. Bradshaw, 40, had decided to leave $30 billion-asset Mercantile, also of St. Louis.
"The thing about Stan is, he's a pretty aggressive guy. He doesn't strike me as a guy who wants to work for other people," said Ben Crabtree, an analyst at Dain Rauscher Inc., Minneapolis.
"We thought, at best, Stan would have a high-responsibility position in the transition," said Anthony Polini, an analyst at Advest Group Inc. "But we're not surprised that ultimately he has no long-term place in senior management."
Though it is common for former bank chiefs to resign after they sell their institutions, Mr. Bradshaw stayed with Mercantile to take on other assignments-and soon went through two title changes.
Last October, after the company had converted Roosevelt's computer systems to its own, Mr. Bradshaw was named group president of retail. Then, in February, he was named president and CEO of the mortgage subsidiary.
In an interview Monday, Mr. Bradshaw said his departure is amicable and noted that he will continue as a consultant to Mercantile until 2000.
"It's a very simple story," he said. "We were focusing on transitional issues, and now that's behind us."
Mr. Bradshaw said that after his full-time tenure with Mercantile ends, he will try to assemble a private investment partnership focusing on financial services. He said he plans to gather investors from around the country for the group.
He added that he has not yet decided whether to stay in St. Louis. However, he did say he is unlikely to return to banking.
Mr. Bradshaw is the second senior executive in the last two months to announce he would leave Mercantile. John H. Beirise, group president of capital markets, left in February.
