Wintrust began over a card table, a few cold beers, and the idea to be the alternative to the big banks. In 1991, armed with a briefcase, a folding table, and a cell phone the size of a shoebox, Wintrust’s current CEO and one of the company’s founders, Ed Wehmer, set up shop in a storefront in a northern Chicago suburb. Twenty-five years and more than 150 locations later, we’ve stayed true to that original mission. We believe there’s still a need and desire for an actual community bank: where tellers know their customers by name; bankers care about local businesses because they frequent them. The bank invests in the neighborhood because it’s actually part of the neighborhood.