Banking | Finance 2025: WILBANKS, WAYNE F.

Wilbanks developed an interest in stocks and bonds at the age of 14. As a 16-year-old, he formed an investment partnership with other students. “I was hooked,” Wilbanks has said of his career trajectory.

A Duke graduate, Wilbanks co-founded Norfolk’s Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management in 1990, serving as the firm’s managing principal and chief investment officer.

Last year, Clearstead Advisors, an Ohio-based financial advisory firm, acquired WST, which had more than $5 billion in assets under management at the time. The business was rebranded as Clearstead Advisory Solutions, a division of Clearstead Advisors. Wilbanks transitioned to his current role overseeing the division for the mid- Atlantic states.

A past rector of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Wilbanks serves on the boards of the Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation, the Virginia Arts Festival and the Slover Library Foundation.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: My father was an academic physician, and he took the family to a medical meeting in Russia in 1973, which was fascinating. Our hotel rooms had listening devices, and we bartered with the locals, who were anxious to get U.S. goods.

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