Jerry Grundhofer


Jerry Grundhofer is the former CEO and Chairman of U.S. Bancorp. He graduated from Seattle University in 1965. In 1993, he became the president of Star Banc Corporation and held that position until 1998, when it merged with Firstar Corporation where he continued as CEO. He became the CEO of U.S. Bancorp when it merged with Firstar in February 2001, and then Chairman of the Board in 2002,succeeding his brother John F. Grundhofer in both positions. Jerry Grundhofer stepped down as CEO on December 12, 2006 and was replaced by his longtime lieutenant Richard K. Davis who assumed the position of CEO in addition to his current role as President. Jerry Grundhofer was to remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors until the end of 2007 when he was scheduled to retire. Jerry was a former Vice-President of Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America when that institution bought out Security Pacific Bank in the early 1990s. He left Bank of America to join Star Banc Corporation in 1993.
Jerry Grundhofer received $17.98 million in total compensation in 2005 which included stock options and other forms of compensation. In 2006, he received $32.28 million in total compensation an increase of over 79.5% per year over the previous year while US Bancorp's stock price and return on equity increased 20% and 23% respectively during the same period.
He also served as vice chairman of Bank of America and was on the board of Lehman Brothers.
In March 2009, Citigroup announced the appointment of Grundhofer to its board of directors in order to take advantage from his broad banking experience in a time when Citi was facing serious financial trouble. In July, 2009, he was appointed Chairman of a newly independent board of the group's subsidiary Citibank. He also led the board's risk management and finance committee and was a member of its nomination and governance committee. In June, 2011, Grundhofer resigned suddenly from the board to "spend time on other interests," according to board chair Richard Parsons. "Jerry's... a critical part of the last couple of years with various regulatory bodies.... experience and track record was very, very helpful there," another board member and former CEO of Bank of Hawaii, Michael O'Neill, was quoted saying at the time.