In 1993, Richard Davis was a rising young star at Bank of America, running its Southern California retail operations out of Los Angeles, when he got a call from Jerry Grundhofer, a former colleague. Grundhofer, who had mentored Davis at Security Pacific Bank (later acquired by BofA), wanted Davis to help him turn around Star Banc, a small, struggling institution in Cincinnati. Although eager for the challenge, Davis, who was 34 at the time, thought his wife, Theresa, would veto a move to the Midwest. “I would have predicted that we were visceral, provincial Southern Californians for life,” Davis recalls. “But she said, ‘I think this could be great. Let’s give it a try.’”
It turns out that she was right. Davis, who landed at Star Banc as an executive vice president, first helped return Star to profitability, then aided Grundhofer as the CEO hopscotched across the Midwest making multiple acquisitions. Eventually, the bankers ended up in Minneapolis and acquired U.S. Bancorp. It is now the nation’s No. 6 bank and, with $219 billion in assets, the biggest between the coasts. In December, Davis, 48, replaced the retiring Grundhofer as chief executive.
Whip-smart, Davis is renowned for his ability to wow audiences with motivational speeches that he gives without notes. Many regard him as the brains behind the company’s recent evolution into a payment-processing and corporate trust fee powerhouse. It’s an assertion that the new CEO deftly deflects. “We’re cut from the same cloth,” he says of Grundhofer. “But he works more through process, while I focus on people.” Davis pledges to stay Grundhofer’s course, buying the occasional small bank or payments firm but eschewing larger, transformational deals.
“Richard is articulate, motivational, credible and an excellent strategic thinker,” says John McDonald, an equity analyst with Banc of America Securities in New York. “People want to work for him.” The only occasional complaint about Davis is that he has a penchant for using 50-cent words. “Sometimes he sounds too polished,” McDonald says. “You hear a lot of talk from him about protocols and paradigms.”
Still, investors are listening. Since Davis’s promotion was announced last July, USB shares have surged 15 percent.
