ROSEMONT, Ill, Aug. 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wintrust Financial Corporation (“Wintrust”) (Nasdaq:WTFC) has
hired Melissa Donaldson to serve as the company’s Chief Diversity Officer. In this role, she will work with senior leadership
company-wide to drive diversity and inclusion priorities, including initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in leadership
pipeline development, marketplace reach and community engagement. She will also manage partnerships to enhance various talent
initiatives and work with business units to reinforce inclusive approaches to addressing talent needs and marketplace opportunities
in order to drive business success.
“This is a position we’ve been looking to create for a while now,” said Wintrust’s President and Chief Executive
Officer Edward J. Wehmer. “We know the importance of solidifying our diversity and inclusion efforts and I could not be more
pleased with the level of talent we’ve found to fill this role. I know Melissa’s extensive experience and many accomplishments will
make her a real asset to Wintrust.”
Ms. Donaldson was most recently at Walgreens as Director of Diversity Networks and Communication. Her
responsibilities included strategic partnerships, inclusion councils, business resource groups, multicultural leadership
initiatives, women’s development strategy and diversity communications. Prior to that role, Ms. Donaldson was with CDW as its
first-ever Director of Inclusion Practices.
Ms. Donaldson’s work has also been published in Profiles in Diversity Journal, Diversity
Executive and Workforce Management magazines and shared in a number of industry outlets. She was named to Women Worth
Watching by Profiles in Diversity Journal in 2008 and is a recipient of the Diversity Officer Leadership Award by
Diversity Best Practices and the Rising Star Diversity Leadership Peer Award by Diversity Woman Magazine.
About Wintrust
Wintrust is a financial holding company with assets of approximately $24 billion whose common stock is traded on
the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Built on the “HAVE IT ALL” model, Wintrust offers sophisticated technology and resources of
a large bank while focusing on providing service-based community banking to each and every customer. Wintrust operates
fifteen community bank subsidiaries with over 150 banking locations located in the greater Chicago and southern Wisconsin market
areas. Additionally, the Company operates various non-bank business units including one of the largest commercial insurance premium
finance companies operating in the United States and Canada, a company providing short-term accounts receivable financing and
value-added out-sourced administrative services to the temporary staffing services industry, a business unit engaging primarily in
the origination and purchase of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market throughout the United States, and
companies providing wealth management services.
For more information please contact: Edward J. Wehmer President/CEO - Wintrust Financial Corporation (847) 939-9000 David A. Dykstra COO - Wintrust Financial Corporation (847) 939-9000
