First Merchants CEO Mark Hardwick to retire end of 2026; Mike Stewart to become President and CEO Jan 1, 2027

FIRST MERCHANTS CORP

CEO Mark Hardwick will retire at the end of 2026 after 29 years with the bank; retirement effective January 1, 2027.
Mike Stewart, current First Merchants Bank President with more than 18 years at the bank, becomes President and CEO effective January 1, 2027.
Board Chair Jean Wojtowicz credited Hardwick with 18 acquisitions during his tenure and said Stewart is 'ready to take First Merchants to the next level.'
No additional plan, contract or award was granted to Stewart; no family relationships or Item 404(a) related-party transactions disclosed.
Hardwick cited a 133-year-old institution with nearly 300,000 clients, 126 locations in 3 states and 2,200 employees.

This headline and bullets were generated automatically by deepseek-v4.1-flash:cloud@v2 from the public filing. Read the source on SEC.gov before relying on any specific claim. Not investment advice. See methodology for how this pipeline works.