Chief Executive Officer & Co-Chairman, Charles Schwab Corporation Common Stock
Charles Schwab (SCHW) CEO Succession Plan
"I have big shoes to fill," says current @CharlesSchwab President Rick Wurster, but adds that he's "very well prepared" to become ...
About Walter Bettinger
Walter Bettinger retired as CEO of Charles Schwab at the end of 2024 after 16 years in the role, with president Rick Wurster succeeding him. Bettinger said he had targeted 2025 for retirement, noting that his youngest child had left for college and that the integration of TD Ameritrade had been completed. He described the transition as a "big day" for the firm and expressed confidence in Wurster, whom he called a "talented executive with great integrity." Bettinger continued as executive co-chairman of Schwab's board alongside founder Charles Schwab. In April 2025, Bettinger joined private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) as a senior adviser. He said he was drawn to the firm's focus on operational excellence, noting that "around 80% of the value that the firm has generated over the years has been through operational improvement." Bettinger stated that CD&R is particularly focused on the insurance, wealth management, and retirement sectors, citing "the massive wealth transfer taking place in an aging society."
Transcript (28 segments)
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Nicole Petallides0:00
Nicole Petallides, live on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This morning, it was announced that the current CEO of Charles Schwab, Walt Bettinger, will be retiring, and the current president of Charles Schwab, Rick Wurster, will be his successor. We'll give you all the details, and we have them with us right now. It is our pleasure to introduce to you all: Walt Bettinger, CEO and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Charles Schwab Corporation, and Rick Wurster, President of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Thank you both for being here. It is our pleasure to have you here today.
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Walter Bettinger0:33
We're thrilled to be here. It's a big day. It's a big day for our firm, a big day for Rick. And I'm excited about this upcoming transition.
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Nicole Petallides0:44
It takes a lot of work going into succession plans. I want to talk all about it. But first we need to acknowledge what you have achieved: the most significant growth in history. Clients, assets, revenue, profits, market cap. You came on during the financial crisis. We were calling it the Great Recession. I was here reporting, talking about the layoffs. You came on during a really tough time, and now you're choosing retirement. So tell us about that road.
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Walter Bettinger1:13
Well, it was definitely an interesting time. I often joke that not many CEOs survive whose stock price goes down by half in their first 90 days, but it was a difficult time overall. But I think it also laid the groundwork for a future of powerful growth. As you shared, going from about 1 trillion in client assets to 10 trillion. So often out of the ashes of challenges come great opportunity. And with Chuck's leadership up to the point, I stepped into the role and then the great talent across Schwab, all of our Schwabbies, we were able to create some powerful success in the last 16 years.
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Nicole Petallides1:50
Yeah, I wanted to go over some of those numbers: from 1.14 trillion in client assets to nearly 10 trillion, right? 9.7. Client brokerage accounts from 9.3 million to 43.2 million. Stock up 400%. You may remember when this was a $16 stock, all the way up to $65. Market cap, 660%. While you've been there, Rick, for a lot of this, and it has been noted how you've been working together closely. You've been in the face of this business. Tell me about the transition now, as you will take on your new role on January 1st.
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Rick Wurster2:29
Well, I have a great role model in Walt, and he's done an outstanding job with this transition. He's really supported me and mentored me, and I feel really well prepared. At the same time, I'm also very grateful to be coming into the company at a period of such strength. We've never had a better client offering than we have today, both for our retail clients, our traders, our advisors. We're as well positioned as we've ever been. We're number one or number two in the two fastest growing segments of financial services. And to be coming in at this time and to be able to continue to work with Walt and benefit from his insights and mentorship, it's really a dream come true.
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Nicole Petallides3:05
This has been a disciplined, multi-year succession plan in the works. I was curious, you know, as you did this, you've gotten some great words from Chuck Schwab. What are your great words to Rick at this point?
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Walter Bettinger3:22
Well, I think the lesson that Chuck has shared with me, two big lessons. One is it's always about the client, no matter what the issues are. If your focus is on clients, in the long run you're going to be successful. And then that plays into the second great lesson from Chuck, and that is take a long term perspective. We know that the market has ups, it has downs. Environments get better, they get worse. And of course our stock is going to have ups and downs. But when you focus on clients and you take a long term perspective, that's when you can reward shareholders, reward your employees, and importantly, reward your clients.
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Nicole Petallides3:56
Yeah, you talk about the clients. Nearly 44 million clients, 33,000 employees. The stockholders. Rick, you talk about this all of the time, from the farmers to the grandmas to everybody, right? And you have a lot coming in in the wealth management side, and young investors, serving everybody.
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Rick Wurster4:14
Yes, we are thriving. And we do, you know, when you talk about 10 trillion, it's such a big number you can lose sight of the fact that behind every one of those dollars is an investor that we're serving, that we're helping to meet their financial dreams. And that's what, you know, one of the things I've learned from Walt is we always put the client first. And behind that $10 trillion are clients trying to live their financial dreams. And we're here to help them succeed.
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Nicole Petallides4:39
I think about the growth opportunities and the younger folks. While you've been in this role a long time, in 2008 you came on in your CEO role, but you had been president and CEO prior to that. So this was 16 years ago, but you had already been with the company. What's your advice to younger investors as more and more are becoming Charles Schwab clients?
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Walter Bettinger5:01
Well, I think our advice has been very consistent for a long time, and that is set an asset allocation. Understand your risk tolerance, keep your expenses as low as you possibly can, and then stick with that long term view. That, to us, is the path for most investors. Now there are traders who are particularly capable at trading. They're disciplined, they use risk management tools, and they can be successful also. But for the majority of our investors, taking a long term view, watching those expenses, and I'd say following some of the advice that Schwab offers is a great path to success.
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Nicole Petallides5:36
And you think about wealth management, such a huge position as a brokerage, as a bank, and more and more coming in, growing the number of clients quarter over quarter. The money coming in and the pressure on you, Rick. Now you're going to have more starting January first. I know you've been seasoned for this. I've heard a lot of kind words about you, what a talented executive you are, a person of great integrity, in fact, ready, talented and ready for this position. But tell me about your new role here as you think about the growth opportunities and what you'll do in the new year.
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Rick Wurster6:11
Yeah, well, I have big shoes to fill. And so there is some pressure, but I also feel very well prepared in terms of what we're focused on. It all comes back to the client. It's about empowering our clients to succeed in their financial life. There are a number of initiatives that we have to do that to continue to grow our business and delight clients, one of which you mentioned, which is wealth management. There is a bull market for advice. And one of the pivots we made, you know, back early on in Walt's day, was really to move from being a transactional firm to being a relationship firm, where we build relationships with our clients and really help them take ownership of what they're trying to accomplish and help them along the way to the extent they need it.
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Nicole Petallides6:51
So many tools, so much advice, so many outlets for folks to get into Schwab and understand trading better and understand the markets and their financial planning. I did want to speak about the integration of TD Ameritrade. That wasn't easy. I mean, this was the largest in history of its kind, a huge undertaking. And it went pretty smoothly. Some of your thoughts as you wrap that up?
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Walter Bettinger7:18
Sure. So most of the integrations that have gone on in our industry were fairly simple and straightforward. They were often what we call lift and shift. The acquiring firm simply closes out at the old firm and moves every client over en masse to the platform of the acquiring firm. But that's not really through clients' eyes. That's not consistent with the strategy that we have at Schwab. And so what we did is we took a best of both approach. We knew that Ameritrade had platforms in several cases that were superior to Schwab's, just as in some cases, Schwab's platforms were superior to Ameritrade. And by taking the best of both, it added a little bit of time to the integration. But ultimately, for the long run, it's the right way to serve our clients and grow the firm. When we look at the results financially, the attrition was lower than in any acquisition of size in our industry ever, which is quite an achievement for Rick and Joe Martinetto, our former CEO, who led that integration. When you consider they did the largest integration and did it with less attrition than any other acquisition in our industry, it's a real feather in their cap.
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Nicole Petallides8:21
I mean, it takes a lot of time. And you did it so methodically with so much discipline to make each client feel welcomed and prepared for the change. I think about also how some of the clients are doing a couple of things. You called it core and explore, I believe, right? They're investing, but they're also having some trading experiences. Right, Rick.
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Rick Wurster8:41
Absolutely. And, you know, when we acquired Ameritrade, one of the great things about the acquisition was we acquired a new strength and a new capability around trading. The thinkorswim platform we think is the strongest trading platform in the industry. And Ameritrade came along with education around the platform to really help traders do their best. And what's so exciting to us about this going forward is that, as you mentioned, a lot of clients will keep part of their dollars to trade and much of their other money they might want to invest for the longer term or use advice. And now that they're part of Schwab, we're finding that Ameritrade clients are willing to engage with us on all of that, not just the trading, but also the advice and the wealth. And that creates a really exciting future for us.
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Nicole Petallides9:26
Yeah. And we have the great wealth transfer. We keep hearing about that. Some thoughts on that as folks are trying to hold on to that principle, add to that principle and pass it down. We talked about young investors. Thoughts there?
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Walter Bettinger9:42
Well, I think Rick said it well when he referenced how we continue to acquire younger investors and also we've moved to a relationship model over the last 15 or 20 years. And by having those deep relationships, we build connections with, whether it's a surviving spouse or partner or even the children of someone who might have affluence, and therefore give us the best chance to hang on to those assets and continue to serve the next generation.
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Nicole Petallides10:04
So you'll have maybe a different role, right? You're Co-Chairman of the Board now. You're going to become Executive Co-Chairman with Charles Schwab himself. So you will still have a significant role, but it will be a different type of role. Walt, what are some of your thoughts about your retirement plans? I mean, what have you been waiting for?
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Walter Bettinger10:23
Well, I think the first thing is I had an incredible role model in Chuck, who served as Executive Chair during my entire tenure as CEO. And I remember when Chuck and I made the transition from him being CEO to me being CEO, from that day on, he always said on key decisions, 'You're the CEO, you have to make the decision. I'm here to offer you support and my experience.' And I look forward to following that same approach with Rick. When Rick is CEO, he makes the call. I'm there to support him and offer any words of experience. From a personal standpoint on retirement, I'm excited about that. As you know, jobs like this are 24/7, 365. There are sacrifices that are made by my wife, my five children, my three grandchildren. And I look forward to spending more time with them than I've been able to in recent years.
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Nicole Petallides11:13
Yeah, and you're an empty nester now. You'll get to enjoy the grandchildren. This is your moment for your next chapter.
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Walter Bettinger11:19
Yes, this is it.
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Nicole Petallides11:22
Rick, are you ready for January first? You're busy 24/7 every day as it is now. You're ready for 2025?
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Rick Wurster11:29
Well, I'm ready. I have a great role model in Walt, and I have a lot of gratitude for working at the company. This is a company that 50 years ago took action to disrupt the industry, to make investing more accessible, to make it for everyone. And I'm so proud to work for the company and I'm so proud to hold the position that Walt has held and that Chuck has held, two people that I admire a lot, both professionally and personally.
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Nicole Petallides11:54
And I know it has been in your leadership to always focus on the clients, employees and stockholders. And the clients, you know everybody. And you're going to be taking the reins and doing much of the same. So I wish you the best of luck in your new role. Congratulations on your transition and your new role, and enjoying some well-deserved time with your family. It's great to see you both. Thank you for being with us here today on Schwab Network.
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Walter Bettinger12:20
Thank you.