Richard A. Wurster
President and Chief Executive Officer
2025 – Present
1 year (current)
Legacy
Wurster leads Schwab's post-TD Ameritrade integration era and the recovery of its spread-based model. Wurster became CEO effective January 1, 2025, after joining Schwab in 2016 and rising through leadership of its investor-services and advisor-services businesses; before Schwab he worked at McKinsey & Company and as a portfolio manager at Wellington Management, giving him both consulting and asset-management experience before taking the top role from long-time CEO Walter Bettinger. Wurster inherited a company navigating the aftermath of the TD Ameritrade integration and lingering investor scrutiny of Schwab's bank-deposit funding model following the 2023 regional-banking crisis, when rising interest rates made Schwab's below-market sweep-account rates less competitive against money-market funds, prompting a wave of client cash migration that pressured near-term earnings even as long-term client asset growth remained strong. His strategic priorities have centered on completing technology integration from the TD Ameritrade deal, expanding Schwab's registered investment advisor custody business, and defending the firm's position as the largest US brokerage by client assets against both traditional rivals and newer robo-advisory entrants. He has also overseen Schwab's expansion of workplace retirement-plan services and its growing custody business for independent registered investment advisors, a segment where Schwab competes with Fidelity for the assets of advisors who have left traditional wirehouse brokerages to start independent practices. He was named president of the combined post-TD-Ameritrade organization in 2021, a role that positioned him as the clear internal successor well before his formal elevation to chief executive. He holds an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and a bachelor's degree from Villanova University.