Exciting News

On November 20, we held our 27th annual Strategic Planning Meeting. The entire company comes together in Kalamazoo, Michigan to review the history of the company with our Chairman, Bill Johnston, a summary of our Strategic Planning Survey, which everyone had an opportunity to participate in, and review our Strategic Plan for 2026 with me. It is one of the highlights of the year for our company. I will review our plan for 2026 with Perspectives readers in my January article. This month I would like to share the other exciting news that we announced at the meeting.

Our current long-term strategic goal, Serve Clients More, requires vision and focused leadership. I truly believe this new goal will be transformational over the next 10 years. Our new national charter also opens numerous external strategic opportunities that will require concentrated attention. The successful launch of our Naples, Florida market earlier this year is the first of these opportunities.

In order to continue to be successful and Serve Clients More, we will need to focus our leadership strengths. That is why I recommended and our board of directors unanimously agreed to promoting Dan Rinzema, Chief Client Officer, to President of Greenleaf Trust N.A.

Dan is recognized companywide for his servant leadership, deep technical expertise and client-first mindset. For the last 15 years, Dan has ensured the voice of the client is embedded throughout the company and has set high client-centric team standards for fiduciary excellence and proactive care. Known as a servant-leader, he mentors team members, partners cross-functionally, drives process improvements and excels at simplifying complex solutions for clients. He also is a visionary operator and champion of talent development.

Please join me in congratulating Dan Rinzema as the next President of Greenleaf Trust N.A.! As President, Dan will focus his attention on overall day-to-day operations and the execution of our annual strategic plans. I will continue to serve as the CEO of Greenleaf Trust N.A. and focus more of my attention on our long-term strategy to Serve Clients More and growing our value to our clients.

I am also proud to recognize this year’s winner of the President’s Award. Each year since 2014, I present the President’s Award to the teammate that has made the greatest impact to the organization during the year. I am the only vote. This year that award was given to Julie Howes, Senior Trust Operations Analyst – Team Mentor. Julie is involved in all aspects of operations, including cash processing, reconcilement and unique account relationships. Julie is the epitome of a team player. For the last 17 years, she has consistently displayed a servant’s heart and even with her significant operational responsibilities will drop everything to help in any way she can. Words used by her teammates to describe her are kind, thoughtful, consistent, responsible and mentor embody our workplace culture. Please join me in congratulating Julie!

Happy holidays! I hope yours are filled with joy.