Paul E. Purcell

Biography

"Paul E. Purcell is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Baird Financial Group and affiliated entities including Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated. Paul joined Baird in 1994 and served in a variety of capacities, including Chief Operating Officer, before becoming President & Chief Executive Officer in 2000. He added the title of Chairman in 2006. Prior to joining Baird, he spent 22 years with Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he was a Managing Director and head of the Midwest Investment Banking Group.

"In addition to his duties at Baird, Paul is co-chair of the board of Teach for America – Milwaukee and chair of the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business Advisory Council. He serves on the Alverno College board of trustees, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Advisory Council, the Cristo Rey Network board of trustees, the Greater Milwaukee Committee board and executive committee, the board of Discovery World, the United Performing Arts Fund board, the Junior Achievement of Chicago board of directors, the United Way of Greater Milwaukee’s board and the board of directors of RiverFront Investment Group, LLC. He is a member of the board of directors of Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and former vice chairman, as well as the former chairman of the board of directors at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and former member of the Board of Discovery World.

"Paul received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1971) and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (1969). In 2009, he received the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Distinguished Corporate Alumni Award. In 2012, he received the Three Harbors Council, Boy Scouts of America’s 2012 Distinguished Citizen’s Award and the Milwaukee Public Library’s Benjamin Franklin Award. In 2013, he was named the Harvard Business School Club of Wisconsin’s Business Leader of the Year for 2012."