The chief executive officer of $79 billion wealth manager Wilmington Trust, owned by M&T Bank Corp., is stepping down.
Doris Meister, who has led Wilmington since 2016, will be leaving her role by the end of May. She will remain a consultant with the bank.
“I had a clear mandate to take a renowned but sleepy brand and make it a well-rounded wealth manager,” Meister said in an interview. “It was a Porsche that the bank bought whose upholstery was ripped out, whose doors didn’t work and the engine didn’t work. It was a huge transformation and we achieved it.”
At the time Meister joined from Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Wilmington oversaw about $74 billion in assets. The unit then grew to about $190 billion in assets before M&T sold a part of the business known as Collective Investment Trust last year, bringing down its total assets.
The company traces its roots to a private residence in Wilmington, Delaware, where it was founded by a scion of the DuPont family. After running into trouble with bad loans, it was acquired in 2011 by M&T, which was planning to expand its wealth business.
Meister, 69, has been called one of top 10 women in wealth management by Barron’s, and was selected last year as one of the top 25 women in finance by American Banker.
“I am a builder-fixer and the next phase at M&T Bank is about execution,” she said. “I’m setting up an advisory business to work with other firms to help build out similar operations.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.