After more than a decade at UMB Bank, C-suite executive Jim Cornelius is stepping down in May 2023. Cornelius is UMB Bank's President of Institutional Banking, a position he assumed in 2015. He first joined the company in 2012, serving as President of Institutional Banking and Investor Services.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, UMB Bank is part of UMB Financial Corporation, a financial services company that has been around for more than a century. Operating from branches throughout the U.S., UMB offers commercial banking for clients in a wide range of sectors, including financial institutions, corporations, higher education institutions, and other public and nonprofit organizations. It is worthy to note that in 2015, for the sixth straight year, UMB ranked as one of America's Best Banks by Forbes and SNL Financial – based on numerous financial measures of asset quality, capital adequacy, and profitability.
To judge by his accomplishments at UMB Bank, Cornelius will be sorely missed. Under his leadership, the bank substantially grew its institutional banking business, providing investor solutions, public finance, investment banking, corporate trust, distressed debt, fund services, institutional custody, and a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sweep program. In addition, Cornelius oversaw the hiring of new talent for UMB's institutional banking team, helping to expand the business's footprint across the U.S. Over the past few years, he also led several acquisitions. In March 2019, he guided UMB's purchase of the corporate trust division of Des Moines-based Bankers Trust. Then in November 2019, he was a vital figure in leading UMB's acquisition of the corporate trust business for Commerce Trust Company.
Previously, Cornelius held numerous leadership positions at leading financial organizations. Before UMB, he was Executive Vice President and National Sales Director at Capital Advisors Group; Managing Director of National Sales at Evergreen Investments; and Senior Vice President and Corporate Trust Group Head at First Union National Bank.
Last year, Cornelius was ranked No. 82 on the Kansas City Business Journal's List of KC's Highest-Paid Public Executives, earning a total compensation of $1.29 million in 2021.
In 1990, he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Richmond.