Founder Profile
Jerry Grundhofer
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Jerry Grundhofer?
Jerry Grundhofer is a founder of U.S. Bank, which was founded in 1863 with John Ellis and James J. Hill.
- Company founded
- U.S. Bank
- Founded
- 1863
- Co-founders
- John Ellis and James J. Hill
Founding Story
Jerry A. Grundhofer is the modern corporate architect of U.S. Bancorp. Having served as a senior executive at Bank of America and CEO of Star Banc Corporation, Grundhofer acquired Firstar Corporation in 1998 and led the $21 billion merger of equals with U.S. Bancorp in 2001. Grundhofer served as Chief Executive Officer from 2001 to 2006 and Chairman of the Board until 2007. He transformed U.S. Bank into an operational model of efficiency, pioneering centralized loan processing, eliminating bloated corporate overhead, and aggressively expanding NOVA Information Systems (Elavon) to make payments the centerpiece of the bank's non-interest revenue growth.
Sources
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