Jim Rohr

Last updated
Jim Rohr
Personal details
Born (1948-10-18) October 18, 1948 (age 76)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Political party Republican
Education University of Notre Dame (BA)
Ohio State University (MBA)

James E. Rohr (born October 18, 1948) is former chairman of PNC Financial Services Group (commonly known as PNC Bank) and former CEO. Rohr served as CEO from May 2000 to April 2013 and as chairman from May 2001 to April 2014, both times taking over for Tom O'Brien. [1] He was the chairman of the Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees until the start of the 2021 Academic year. [2]

Contents

Early life

Rohr was the grandson of an Alsatian (then Germany) immigrant to America, a cook in a hotel, who married the hotel's Irish laundress and opened his own restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. [3] Rohr's father, also a Cleveland restaurateur died when Rohr was still in grade school. Rohr graduated from Cleveland's Saint Ignatius High School and from the University of Notre Dame in 1970 with a B.A. [4] Two years later, in 1972, Rohr earned an MBA degree from Ohio State University. Rohr's wife, Sharon, is from Chagrin Falls.

Professional life

Prior to becoming Chairman & CEO of PNC, Rohr had spent his entire 28-year professional life at PNC-affiliated or predecessor companies. As CEO, Rohr managed a major accounting scandal that plagued PNC soon after he assumed leadership of the banking firm. By shifting $762 million in underperforming assets and loans to accounts that were kept off the corporation's balance sheet, PNC was forced to restate its 2001 earnings. [5]

The first few years in an executive role at PNC were turbulent for Rohr. PNC's stock price lost roughly half of its overall value throughout 2001 and at shareholders' meetings during that time, shareholders began to demand that Rohr resign from his position. [6]

In the wake of that scandal, Rohr led an overhaul of PNC's risk management systems that would ultimately help position PNC well for the 2008 financial crisis to come, and his reforms helped boost the performance of PNC's stock. By 2003, PNC was in acquisition mode, picking up United National Bancorp, expanding its presence in Eastern Pennsylvania and Central New Jersey. In the first half of 2004, PNC's net income rose 41 percent compared to the same part of 2003. [5] At the end of 2004, PNC's assets were nearly $80 billion. [7] A year later, in 2005, PNC earned $1.3 billion (or $4.65 per share), the highest annual earnings figure in the corporation's history. [6]

Also in 2005, Rohr engineered PNC's acquisition of Riggs National Corp., parent company of Riggs National Bank. [8] The company's assets increased to nearly $92 billion with the addition of Riggs. [9] The acquisition was the beginning of a series of purchases that would dramatically increase PNC's size and bring it deep into the U.S. Southeast.

In 2006, PNC and Rohr have received high marks for their decision to sell a 49.8 percent stake of the money manager firm BlackRock to Merrill Lynch in 2006. The deal valued PNC's 70 percent stake at $5.6 billion, compared to the $240 million PNC, under O'Brien had paid for the same stake in 1995. [6]

In 2007, PNC acquired Mercantile Bankshares Corporation, headquartered in Baltimore, adding 240 branches, primarily in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. In 2007 it also announced agreements to purchase two other banks. In 2008 PNC gained another 33 branches when it closed the acquisition of Yardville National Bancorp in New Jersey, and immediately after closed on its acquisition of Sterling Financial Corporation, with 67 branches in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. [10]

Rohr's positive performance as Chairman & CEO earned him much praise and acclaim, including the 2007 American Banker's Banker of the Year Award. [11]

At the height of the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, Rohr oversaw PNC's acquisition of struggling National City Corporation. The transaction effectively doubled the size of PNC and briefly made PNC one of the five largest U.S. banks. [12] Importantly, it expanded PNC's retail banking footprint to the Mississippi River in the West and to Florida in the South, making it a truly "super-regional" bank. A category in which it would repeatedly be ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the "Most Admired Companies in America." Two years later, The Banker magazine of London named PNC "Bank of the Year in the U.S." for 2010.

In 2011 PNC agreed to purchase 19 Florida branches of BankAtlantic Bancorp, and by 2012 he had closed on the acquisition of a much bigger franchise, the 426 U.S. branches of the Royal Bank of Canada, collectively known as RBC Bank (USA). [10]

In February 2013, Rohr announced to the PNC board that he wanted to vacate his CEO role after the 2013 annual shareholders meeting and then retire from the company altogether in 2014. [13]

Rohr was named to the General Electric Co. board of directors in September 2013. [14]

In April 2014, Rohr vacated his role as chairman, retiring after 42 years with PNC, including 13 years as CEO. Upon his retirement, PNC's assets exceeded $320 billion, or four times what they had been at the beginning of Rohr's building phase. [15]

Beyond Rohr's legacy as a builder of the franchise, Rohr was well known for his community leadership in his adopted home, PNC's headquarters city of Pittsburgh, and as the driving force behind the creation of PNC's signature philanthropic effort, PNC Grow Up Great.

Among Rohr's many contributions to the community were his chairmanship of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which transformed Pittsburgh's former red-light district into a showcase cultural district featuring the already existing home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Hall, the opera house known as the Benedum Theater, the smaller Byham theater concert venue, and the O'Reilly theater. Rohr helped connect these to the city's central business district by building Three PNC Plaza to house the bank's growing staff on a formerly blighted block adjacent to PNC's corporate headquarters. Completed in 2010, it featured the city's first Fairmont Hotel and was opposite a park PNC developed on the site.

In 2008, Rohr chaired Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary celebration, bringing national attention to the city. [16] In 2009, as chairman of the Allegheny Council on Community Development, Rohr helped Pittsburgh lure the international G-20 conference. For his contributions to the city, Pittsburgh Magazine named him "Pittsburgher of the Year" in 2012. [17] And in 2015, with the completion of PNC's new corporate headquarters at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street, the city named a portion of Wood Street, the corner where PNC had been headquartered for more than 160 years, "Jim Rohr Way." [18]

Beyond Pittsburgh, Rohr enhanced the lives of millions of children through PNC Grow Up Great. Long a close associate of Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood fame, Rohr was intensely aware of the importance of early childhood development. In 2004, he worked with the PNC Foundation to create Grow Up Great, a 10-year, $100 million early childhood learning initiative intended to help prepare underserved children from birth to age 5 for school and life. [19]

Compensation

While CEO of PNC Financial Services Group in 2008, James E. Rohr earned a total compensation of $8,549,098, which included a base salary of $1,000,000, no cash bonus, stocks granted of $3,185,000, and options granted of $4,132,000. [20]

Criticism

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper began running "The Jim Rohr Box." The editorial section bearing Rohr's name chided the PNC Chairman for accepting a $48 million public subsidy to help fund the construction of the new Three PNC Plaza. [21]

Personal wealth

Forbes magazine's profile of Rohr shows his annual salary at PNC totaling $950,000 with PNC stock options valued at $11.4 million. [22]

Related Research Articles

Washington Mutual, Inc. was an American savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in the United States until its collapse in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chase Bank</span> National bank headquartered in New York City

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and financial services holding company, JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000. Chase Manhattan Bank was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank and the Manhattan Company in 1955. The bank merged with Chemical Bank New York in 1996 and later merged with Bank One Corporation in 2004 and in 2008 acquired the deposits and most assets of Washington Mutual. In May 2023, it acquired the assets of First Republic Bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank One Corporation</span> Former bank of the United States

Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2004, with its CEO Jamie Dimon taking the lead at the combined company. The company had its headquarters in the Bank One Plaza in the Chicago Loop in Chicago, Illinois, now the headquarters of Chase's retail banking division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Bancorp</span> American bank holding company

U.S. Bancorp is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution in the United States. The company provides banking, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services products to individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other financial institutions. As of 2019, it had 3,106 branches and 4,842 automated teller machines, primarily in the Western and Midwestern United States. In 2023 it ranked 149th on the Fortune 500, and it is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. The company also owns Elavon, a processor of credit card transactions for merchants, and Elan Financial Services, a credit card issuer that issues credit card products on behalf of small credit unions and banks across the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizens Financial Group</span> Eastern U.S. bank

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. The company owns the bank Citizens Bank, N.A., which operates in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M&T Bank</span> American bank

M&T Bank Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 1,000+ branches in 12 states across the Eastern United States, from Maine to Central Virginia. Until May 1998, the bank's holding company was named First Empire State Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PNC Financial Services</span> Major bank based in Pittsburgh

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 branches and 9,523 ATMs. PNC Bank is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets and is one of the largest banks by number of branches, deposits, and number of ATMs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National City Corp.</span> American bank and part of National City Corp

National City Corporation was a regional bank holding company based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded in 1845; it was once one of the ten largest banks in America in terms of deposits, mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Subsidiary National City Mortgage is credited for doing the first mortgage in America. The company operated through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin, and also served customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses included commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance, and asset management. The bank reached out to customers primarily through mass advertising and offered comprehensive banking services online. In its last years, the company was commonly known in the media by the abbreviated NatCity, with its investment banking arm even bearing the official name NatCity Investments.

The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is an American regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that the majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state. Bank of Hawaii has the most accounts, customers, branches, and ATMs of any financial institution in the state. The bank consists of four business segments: retail banking, commercial banking, investment services, and treasury. The bank is currently headed by chairman, president and chief executive officer, Peter S. Ho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KeyBank</span> American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio

KeyBank is an American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 25th largest bank in the United States. Organized under the publicly traded KeyCorp, KeyBank was formed from the 1994 merger of the Cleveland-based Society Corporation, which operated Society National Bank, and the Albany-headquartered KeyCorp. The company today operates over 1,000 branches and 40,000 ATMs, mostly concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast United States, though also operates in the Pacific Northwest as well as in Alaska, Colorado, Texas and Utah.

Valley National Bancorp, doing business as Valley Bank, is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, with approximately $64 billion in assets. Its principal subsidiary, Valley National Bank, currently operates over 230 branch locations and commercial banking offices across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama, California, and Illinois. Valley Bank is one of the largest commercial banks headquartered in New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BankAtlantic</span> Former Florida bank

BankAtlantic was a US bank that operated in the state of Florida until it was acquired in 2012 by BB&T Corporation. It provided consumer and business banking services to communities throughout Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flagstar Financial</span> American bank holding company

Flagstar Financial, Inc. (FLG), is a bank holding company for Flagstar Bank headquartered in Hicksville, New York. In 2023, the bank operated 395 branches in New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin. Branches used to be operated under the names Queens County Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, Roosevelt Savings Bank, and Atlantic Bank in New York; Garden State Community Bank in New Jersey; Ohio Savings Bank in Ohio; and AmTrust Bank in Arizona and Florida. However, they rebranded all of these under the Flagstar name on February 21, 2024. FLG is on the list of largest banks in the United States and is one of the largest lenders in the New York City metro area.

First Niagara Bank was a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured regional banking corporation headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Its parent company, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. was the 44th-largest bank in the United States with assets of over $37.1 billion as of June 30, 2013.

Firstar Corporation was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based regional bank holding company that existed from 1853 to 2001. In 2001, Firstar acquired U.S. Bancorp and assumed its name, moving its headquarters to Minneapolis.

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc., based in Paramus, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, was a bank-holding company for Hudson City Savings Bank, its only subsidiary, then the largest savings bank in New Jersey and one of the oldest banks in the United States, with US$50 billion in assets. It is now a fully publicly held entity and a member S&P 500 stock market Index. In 2005, its US$3.93 billion secondary offering of common stock was the largest in United States banking history. At the time, it was also the seventh largest domestic public offering in United States history The bank avoided the excesses of the housing boom and was labeled "best bank of 2007" by Forbes. M&T Bank agreed to acquire Hudson City on August 27, 2012.

The National City acquisition by PNC was the deal by PNC Financial Services to acquire National City Corp. on October 24, 2008 following National City's untenable loan losses during the subprime mortgage crisis. The deal received much controversy due to PNC using TARP funds to buy National City only hours after accepting the funds while National City itself was denied funds, as well as civic pride for the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where National City was based.

Integra Financial Corporation was a Pittsburgh-based bank that was eventually acquired by National City Corp. in May 1996 as one of National City's first attempts at becoming a major powerhouse in American banking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama National BanCorporation</span> Defunct American bank holding company

Alabama National BanCorporation based in Birmingham, Alabama, was a bank holding company which was purchased by RBC Bank in 2008 for $1.6 billion. Prior to the RBC deal, the bank was the third largest banking company in Alabama with over $7 billion assets.

References

  1. ↑ "James E. Rohr". Archived from the original on 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  2. ↑ "David Coulter to Become Chair of Carnegie Mellon's Board of Trustees - News - Carnegie Mellon University".
  3. ↑ "Pittsburgher of the Year: Jim Rohr"
  4. ↑ "James Rohr". American Banker. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  5. 1 2 "The survivor: Jim Rohr has beaten challenges, and odds, at PNC – Chief Executive, The – Find Articles at BNET.com". Archived from the original on 2008-09-17.
  6. 1 2 3 The Path to Redeption - 04.01.2006 - U.S. Banker Article Archived 2008-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "ThePNCFInancialServicesGroup_10K_20060315". Archived from the original on 2017-05-10.
  8. ↑ "Riggs Bank Sold to PNC Financial Services Group". Washington Post. 2004-07-16. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  9. ↑ "ThePNCFinancialServicesGroup_10K_20060315". Archived from the original on 2017-05-10.
  10. 1 2 "PNC Legacy Project". Archived from the original on 2015-02-28.
  11. ↑ American Banker to Honor James Rohr of PNC Financial With 2007 Banker of the Year Award
  12. ↑ Dash, Eric. "PNC Gets National City in Latest Bank Acquisition" . Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  13. ↑ "Rohr to retire as CEO, Demchak to take over". American City Business Journals . Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  14. ↑ "James Rohr Joins GE Board of Directors - Yahoo Finance". Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
  15. ↑ "ThePNCFinancialServicesGroup_10K_20140303". Archived from the original on 2017-05-10.
  16. ↑ Flanagan, Bill. "A grand idea: Pittsburgh 250". Pittsburgh Quarterly. Archived from the original on 2016-04-04.
  17. ↑ "Pittsburgh Magazine". 27 December 2011.
  18. ↑ "Pittsburgh Business Times".
  19. ↑ "On Q". Archived from the original on 2016-04-07.
  20. ↑ 2008 CEO Compensation for James E. Rohr Archived 2009-04-14 at the Wayback Machine , Equilar.com
  21. ↑ Is newspaper's anti-Rohr campaign over the line?
  22. ↑ "James Rohr Profile - Forbes.com".[ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.