DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
I TRUST THOSE WHO DO.
DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
"I TRUST THOSE WHO DO."
Robert G. Wilmers
DRIVEN BY OUR VALUES AND IN SERVICE TO COMMUNITY
Where Integrity Leads, Impact Will Follow
The Robert G. Wilmers Integrity Prize
With integrity in leadership and service to community at the forefront of our search, each year we honor an individual striving to better our world. In determining next year’s winner and finalists, the Wilmers Integrity Prize sets cause, character, and results into dynamics for consideration while spanning genres and fields of achievement — we are looking for people who thread integrity through values and actions.
Bob Wilmers Made an Impact Every Day
He held himself and others to the highest standards. He challenged. He questioned. He believed in the power of education. He rode a bike to work well into his 80s. He let his actions speak for themselves. He was the embodiment of integrity.
Bob Wilmers was a special man who quietly improved the communities and world in which he lived. Wherever he put down roots in life or business, he made sure to cultivate real relationships, support local institutions, and partner with leaders to solve problems. He gave generously to organizations he found important – with special attention to education and the arts.
For nearly 35 years, Bob Wilmers led M&T Bank Corporation as chief executive officer, from 1983 until his passing in 2017. During this time, he grew the bank in size and influence, including the navigation through the 2008 financial crisis, and was regarded as one of the most astute and prudent financiers of his era. But his ultimate focus was the bank’s responsibility to positively impact the communities it serves. He worked hard to make M&T a shining example of what it means to be a bank, as well as a neighbor. He pursued his values rigorously, always with modesty and piercing intelligence.
The Robert G. Wilmers Integrity Prize was established in honor of Bob Wilmers to recognize and celebrate the ideals represented by his life and legacy as a philanthropist and as an advocate for positive change for the greater good.
OUR VALUES
Be principled without compromise.
Always anchoring actions with core beliefs and having the courage to do so even if it means going against the grain.
Think independently.
Trusting your vision and solving problems based on what you’ve learned, observed and considered.
Enrich communities sustainably.
Really knowing your community, listening to and addressing its needs with your work in a way that
fosters growth.
Do the right thing.
Even if it’s difficult, even if no one’s looking, remain committed to doing what you think is morally right and have the courage to change the world.
WHO WE ARE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Elisabeth Roche Wilmers, President Emerita and Honorary Trustee
H. Rodgin Cohen, Co-Founder, President
Camille de Wouters, Vice President
Diane Eshleman, Treasurer
René Jones, Co-Founder
Hans Morris
Charles John O'Byrne
Allison Sagraves, Secretary
Diana Taylor
STAFF
Jennifer Trainer Thompson, Executive Director and CEO
Carina Liebeknecht, Director, Special Projects
SELECTION COMMITTEE
H. Rodgin Cohen
Senior chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell
Diane Eshleman
Founder of Belgrave Court Consulting
Will Frears
Director of the Mercury Store in Gowanus, Brooklyn
Dominique Goss
Executive Director, M&T Charitable Foundation
Charles Grady
Founder and CEO of Hang Time
Max Kenner
Founder and Director of Bard Prison Initiative
Hans Morris
Managing partner of Nyca Partners; Chairman of the Berkshire Eagle
Charles John O’Byrne
Executive Vice President for Policy, Related Companies
Yo-Yo Ma
World-renowned cellist, humanist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace
Edafe Okpora
Founder and Executive Director of Refuge America
Lundi Ramos
Founder and CEO of Kind Therapy Inc.
Allison Sagraves
Strategic advisor on AI and data; former Chief Data Officer, M&T
Kevin Sullivan
Pulitzer Prize-winning associate editor for The Washington Post
Diana Taylor
Business woman with public and private sector experience
Jennifer Trainer Thompson
Director and CEO of the Wilmers Integrity Prize
Elisabeth Roche Wilmers
Philanthropist and widow of the late Robert G. Wilmers
Camille De Wouters
Paris-based marketing expert and stepdaughter of Robert G. Wilmers
Marion Friedman Young
Executive Director of the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University
ADVISORY BOARD
Glenn Kaplan, Brand builder and former creative director of Barnes & Noble