Meet Marita

Experience

The foundation of Marita's experience comes from over 20 years of holding executive leadership positions across a variety of industry sectors, from super-regional banks, financial institutions, and Internet startups through to international law firms.

Marita has built her career on relationship management, industry knowledge and providing experienced advice, and counsel.

By Combining diversified business and finance experience with a legal background, Marita counsels and guides businesses in change management, business development and identifying opportunities for growth by focusing on efficiency that drives market penetration, accelerates revenue and supports the corporate vision.

During her career Marita has held the positions of President, Managing Director, and Senior Vice President. She has worked for Unisys Corporation, ABN Amro Services Company, and financial institutions including Huntington National Bank, Northern Trust Bank, Standard Federal Bank (owned by LaSalle Bank) and NBD Bank.

Most recently she held the position of senior vice president and senior trust officer at Huntington National Bank. As the managing executive, she led regional trust and investment business growth, with a focus on expanding market presence.

Under her leadership at Northern Trust, managed assets grew more than 50% and staff size was reduced while maintaining strong client retention and profitability.

Her consolidation and reorganization expertise at Standard Federal Bank resulted in a single client delivery model for lending functions and a successful restructuring of problem loan portfolios.

Accomplishments

Amongst her many accomplishments, Marita managed the turnaround and acquisition strategy of a large regional bank credit and debit card business. She managed the startup and rapid growth of private client services for a highly profitable US super-regional bank and provided independent consulting focused on business strategy and client relationship management. She led critical enterprise-wide business process and technology alignment initiatives for three regional firms and provided business development, marketing and fundraising leadership to an Internet startup company.

Education

Marita earned her bachelor's degree in business and accounting from Grand Valley State University and a law degree from the University Of Detroit School Of Law. She holds a Certified Financial Planning (CFP) certificate and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Financial Planning Association, the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and the Private Directors Association.

Community involvement

Strongly committed to the community, Marita is a member of the Board of Trustees of the YMCA of Metro Detroit, a member of the Executive Committee and a member of the YMCA Foundation Board (Past Chair). She is chair of the Board of Trustees for Ascension Health/St. John Providence Southeast Michigan 7 hospital system. She has advised the Services for Older Citizens non-profit organization as a member of its capital campaign committee after spending eight years as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Marita also shares her expertise as a committee member of various committees for the Grosse Pointe Academy, the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, and the Detroit Athletic Club. Marita is a strong supporter of women’s issues, and is a member of the Power of 100 Women of the Michigan Women's Foundation.

She currently resides with her family in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan.