Richard Davis announced on Tuesday that he plans to step down as CEO of U.S. Bank.
 
After a decade at the helm of the Minneapolis-based bank — the seventh largest in the nation by asset size — Davis will hand over the keys on April 18 to Andrew Cecere, the bank’s current president and chief operating officer.
 
“At age 48, I was named CEO of a great institution called U.S. Bank,” Davis said in a statement. “Serving as CEO for the past 10 years has been the most rewarding and fruitful period of my 41-year career as a banker.”
 
Upon taking over as CEO at U.S. Bank in 2006, Davis spent much of his tenure navigating the bank through the financial crisis, as well as the stricter regulations and low interest rates that followed afterward. Despite these challenges—and Davis’ reluctance to lay off employees to trim costs—the bank regularly managed to post higher returns on equity than bigger banks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
 
Outside his office, Davis is known for his affable demeanor and as a tireless volunteer in the Twin Cities community. Observers point to him as a quintessential figure in keeping the Vikings in downtown Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium. Landing the 2018 Super Bowl at the stadium is also a deal he is credited with helping secure.
 
For those reasons and others, Davis was named TCB’s 2016 Person of the Year. In our December feature, Davis and affiliates discussed not only his career, but also his favorite hobbies, such as collecting muscle cars.
 
When Davis exits as CEO at U.S. Bank’s annual shareholders meeting in April, he won’t be leaving the company entirely. The 58-year-old said he plans to stay on as executive chairman of the bank’s board while he dedicates his time to a wholly new, yet still unknown endeavor.
 
“I am enthusiastic about investing energy in a new, yet-to-be determined service mission in the future,” Davis said. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he added that he “will never ever work for another financial institution” and plans to do “something so different that I don’t really know what it’s going to be.”
 
U.S. Bank board members have expressed confidence in Davis’ successor, Andrew Cecere. The bank on Tuesday called the transition of power “a long-planned and well-orchestrated succession process,” which involved Cecere moving up the ranks to chief operating officer in January 2015 and, one year later, taking over as president of U.S. Bank.
 
“Andy has tremendous intellect and business insight,” Davis said. “He also has an innate curiosity, which will challenge the organization to focus on innovations that improve the customer experience.”
 
A St. Paul native, Cecere began his career at U.S. Bank in 1985 after earning his undergraduate degree from the University of St. Thomas and his MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
 
“I am honored to be named the next CEO of U.S. Bank,” Cecere said in a statement. “We will continue to deliver a consistent, predictable and repeatable financial performance — and will do it with ethics and integrity as we work to become the most trusted choice for our stakeholders.”
 
News of Davis’ departure sent U.S. Bank shares down about 2.5 percent from its Friday close of $51.68 to about $50.20 as of mid-day Tuesday.