Financial Services >> CEO Interviews >> April 2, 2001
JOHN WINDELER is Executive Chairman of Alliance & Leicester Plc. At the
age of 31, only five years after leaving graduate school, John Windeler
was running Irving Trust Company's Global Treasury, its largest profit
centre. That year he was elected as a Senior Vice President and Member
of the banks' executive committee. At the time he was the youngest
Senior Vice President in New York's banking history. In more than 30
years of banking, he has held Board positions in banks and merchant
banks in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and Singapore. Always an
Anglophile, on two occasions Mr Windeler opened UK operations for major
multinational banks which enabled him to live and work in London. In
1983 he founded Irving Trust International Ltd, a London Merchant Bank,
and in 1993 he set up National Australia Bank's insurance company. John
Windeler joined Alliance & Leicester Plc in 1995 as a Non-Executive
Director, becoming Deputy Chairman in 1998 and Chairman in 1999. Mr
Windeler is married and has two sons. He has a BA in English and an MBA
in Finance from Ohio State University. His interests include skiing,
tennis, opera, rugby and history. Profile
TWST: Would you start us off please with a quick corporate profile ofAlliance & Leicester: what are its core business activities?
Mr. Windeler: Alliance & Leicester has a long history