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Ronald Kruszewski

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Stifel Financial Corp.

Search every verified Ronald Kruszewski interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Ronald Kruszewski, chairman and CEO of Stifel Financial, recently appeared in several media interviews and events. In September 2026, he participated in a Stifel-sponsored fundraiser for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team in St. Louis, where he was interviewed by skier Mikaela Shiffrin. During the event, Shiffrin discussed her plans to add the Super-G speed discipline to her racing repertoire. Kruszewski also appeared on the Inside the ICE House podcast to mark 30 years leading the firm, where he described AI as a business opportunity and a tool rather than a replacement for human judgment, and said Stifel's strategy involves compounding capabilities over time rather than predicting the future. On the Tony Serriani podcast, he discussed Stifel's employee satisfaction model, noting the firm had been ranked number one in advisor satisfaction for four consecutive years, and said the advice business is becoming more valuable despite increased competition for advisors. Kruszewski also highlighted Stifel's financial growth, stating the firm's revenue had grown from $100 million to nearly $6 billion annualized over his tenure, with a return on tangible equity of nearly 25%. He emphasized the firm's commitment to investing in advisor workspaces and technology, and expressed confidence in the long-term growth of the financial services industry.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“When people say how do you how do you um you know deal with predicting the future? I say we don't predict the future. We compound the past. And and that's been true over 40 years. So what we keep doing is we keep adding our capabilities. We keep evolving and then we compound it and uh what what you're compounding is your capabilities, your intelligence, your everything you do over 40 years suddenly is an advantage be”

“The time that you spent servicing clients and getting new clients in our business model has a 65% profit margin. All right? Between what we pay the advisors, what we pay the benefits, and what we pay their support. All right? You tell me what business has that kind of margin.”

“Yet there has never been more competition for high-quality advisors than there is today. So that tells me the market knows that the advice business is going to become more valuable, not less.”

“How about the national debt? Running 6% deficits alongside higher interest rate is not a formula that's going to work for too long. And I know we've been saying this for a while. And the numbers are so big, they're hard, they're just hard to feel. Here's one to feel. Here's one way to feel that. You spent $1 every second around the clock. It would take you 32,000 years to spend a trillion. 32,000 years. Look, we adde”

“I'm also watching private credit. Hedge funds are bidding deep discounts on BDC shares right now on portfolios that were sold to investors. These aren't bids on value. They're bids on the inability to meet redemptions today. Reminds you of Mr. Potter in a wonderful life, offering 50 cents on the dollar in a panic. He wasn't pricing value, he was pricing liquidity. Same dynamic, different century. Banks have lent at l”

“And then there's a cautionary tale too here about my business right now and that is um young people are confusing gambling with investing and I want to caution people about that. You know uh oh I'm investing on whether the Super Bowl coin flip is head or tails and I say that's not investing. That is gambling. And and you need to understand the difference.”

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