Edward J. Wehmer

Ed graduated from Georgetown University in 1976 and is a Certified Public Accountant.Ed is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wintrust Financial Corporation, where he has been since 1991. Wintrust is a financial services holding company based in Lake Forest, Illinois, with assets of over $14 billion. The Company engages in providing traditional community banking services, wealth management services, commercial insurance premium financing, mortgage origination, short-term accounts receivable financing and certain administrative services. The Company provides community-oriented, personal and commercial banking services to customers located in the greater Chicago, Illinois and southern Wisconsin metropolitan areas through its 15 wholly owned banking subsidiaries.Banking has been the primary focus of Ed’s career, beginning at the accounting firm Ernst & Young, LLP, where he specialized in the banking field focusing mainly in the area of bank mergers and acquisitions for seven years. After leaving Ernst & Young, Ed was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Corus Bankshares, Inc. (formerly River Forest Bancorp), a $4 billion banking holding company in Chicago, Illinois from 1985 to 1991. While there, he was also President of the firm’s largest subsidiary, Lincoln National Bank, in Chicago.Ed is a member of the board of directors of Stepan Company (NYSE) in Northfield, IL. He also serves as a director of Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, on the audit committee of Northwestern Memorial Health Care, as a trustee for Children’s Memorial Hospital and Foundation, as a member of the advisory board of the Farmer School of Business of Miami University, and on the Finance Board and the School Board of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He is a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago and the Bankers Club, where he is also a director.Ed and his wife, Dorothy, live in Lake Forest, Illinois. They have six children.