Rants and Raves

US Banker, April, 2004

Grundhofer's Slick Legacy? First, I thoroughly enjoy U.S. Banker and look forward to receiving it. Your articles are timely, informative and engaging.

As a former employee of Firstar Bank in Milwaukee (pre-Jerry Grundhofer), I could not allow the slick, but misguided feature on Jerry Grundhofer to go without rebuttal ("Smooth Operator," February 2004). The description of Mr. Grundhofer as a terrific salesman is correct. Upon taking control of Firstar, an old-line respected bank and the largest in Wisconsin, Messrs. Grundhofer and Richard Davis and their team promised to bring an energetic, dynamic approach to the company, while protecting our #1 market share.

Instead, we were exposed to longer customer lines in branches, overworked employees, inadequate resources, unrealistic sales goals, a retreat from community investments, inferior operational systems, inflexible commercial lending policies and destruction of employee morale.

Community banks in Wisconsin owe a debt of gratitude to ...