Trustmark Companies chairman to retire
Lake Forest-based Trustmark Mutual Holding Co. said Board Chairman and former CEO J. Grover Thomas Jr. will retire following the June 2015 quarterly meeting.
Thomas, a member of Trustmark's board since 2000, has reached the mandatory retirement age. David D. Weick, retired Chief Information Officer of McDonald's Corp. and a Trustmark director since 1999, will stand for election as chairman at the June Annual Policyholder Meeting.
Thomas retires after 15 years of executive leadership and board service at Trustmark. He joined Trustmark in June 2000 as the first president and CEO hired from outside the company. Thomas focused the organization on core businesses and capabilities, leading to four successive years of record earnings from 2002 to 2005. He was elected Chairman in 2002 and was succeeded as CEO by David McDonough in 2005.
"I've really had a great experience at Trustmark," Thomas said. "It's been gratifying on both a personal and professional level. We were able to carry forward the strengths that have enabled Trustmark to succeed for more than a century - and we were able to adapt and change as well to prepare the organization for the future. Through my 15 years, though, the most gratifying aspect of it has been all the exceptional people I've been able to work with and get to know."
Between 2000 and 2014, Trustmark capital and surplus has increased from $247 million to over $600 million. And Thomas counts finding and bringing on board his successors as CEO - David McDonough (2005 - 2011) and Joseph Pray (2012 - present), who have continued to strengthen the company - among his proudest achievements.
"They have each been the right person for the CEO role at the right time in Trustmark's history. Although Trustmark has been around for many years, I know that with the leadership team and the board under David Weick's direction, the future holds even greater opportunity for the company and the people and communities it serves," he said
Weick who began a more than 30-year career in technology and quality management, finance, and information systems at Kraft Foods in 1981. He joined McDonald's in 1997 as vice president, U.S. technology services and, in 1998, was appointed CIO. In 2006, he took on the additional role of Senior Vice President, Shared Services. While there, among other large technology projects, he oversaw the global standardization of McDonald's point-of-sale systems across more than 31,000 locations. He retired in March 2013.
Weick joined the Trustmark board in 1999 and currently serves on the board's Executive and Investment Committees and chairs the Governance Committee. In addition, Mr. Weick has served a number of industry, community and leadership organizations, including El Valor, a charitable organization serving needy children in Chicago, industry groups FS Tech and HosTech/EuroTech, as well as the Research Board and the CIO Strategy Exchange, two research organizations comprised of global technology leaders. He earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University and an MBA at Loyola University.