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George Schaefer joined the Fifth Third Bank in 1971 as a management trainee. Nineteen years later, he was named Chief Executive Officer and President of the Fifth Third Bank. The bank used to have $7 billion dollars in assets. But under George Schaefer's leadership, the $7 billion dollars grew to $81 billion dollars!
As of today, Fifth Third Bank has 933 full service locations in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Florida and Michigan.
George Schaefer - Leadership Skills Learned from the Battlefield
George Schaefer was born in a working class community in West Cincinnati. In his high school days, he played football where he met his coach who, in his senior year, gave him an application for West Point.
Schaefer applied at West Point and got accepted. He graduated from West Point in 1967 with a degree in engineering and went to the US Army's elite Ranger School in Fort Benning, Georgia. He spent 2 years in Germany during the cold war and 2 years in Vietnam. During these years, he learned a lot of leadership skills and strategies that he was able to apply later on in his banking career.
When he went home to Cincinnati, he applied for an engineering job. But there were no engineering jobs available so Schaefer decided to accept a job as a management trainee at Fifth Third Bank. As an engineer turned banker, he got ideas from the Fifth Third Bank's heads, William S. Rowe and his successor Clement L. Buenger.
The bank decided to do in-house processing and George Schaefer was assigned to the data processing unit where he was able to use his superior mathematical skills. Schaefer's performance in his new job caught the attention of his superiors and upper level management and directors.
Wanting to improve and advance his career, George Schaefer attended night school at the Xavier University. He got his MBA degree in business in 1974. After this, George Schaefer simply soared to the top. Under his wing, the Fifth Third Bank grew in leaps and became among the Top 25 banks in the United States.
The George Schaefer Quick Bio
Full Name: George A. Schaefer, Jr.
Birth Date: May 17, 1945
Birth Place: West Cincinnati
Company: Fifth Third Bank
Industry: Finance / Banking
Key Success Traits: eager and determined innovator, passionate learner
Additional:
George Schaefer had a heart bypass in 1982 when he was only 36 years old. But even with his condition, he continued to pursue the growth and advancement of Fifth Third Bank.
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