secwatch.observer — SEC 8-K summary
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Issuer:     FIRST MERCHANTS CORP (FRME)
CIK:        0000712534
Form:       8-K
Filed at:   2026-10-01T12:12:50+00:00
Accession:  0000712534-26-000067
Event type: leadership
Sentiment:  neutral
Materiality: 0.50
Item codes: 5.02, 8.01, 9.01
LLM model:  deepseek-v4.1-flash:cloud@v2

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

Source:
  EDGAR index:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/712534/000071253426000067/0000712534-26-000067-index.htm
  Primary doc:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/712534/000071253426000067/frme-20261001.htm
  HTML page:      https://secwatch.observer/filing/0000712534-26-000067

License: Source filings: public domain (SEC EDGAR). Summaries (headline + bullets): CC-BY-4.0; attribute https://secwatch.observer