WAUSAU – Ruder Ware announced today, consistent with the firm’s succession planning efforts during the past several years, Stewart Etten will step down as president of the firm effective April 1. Matthew Rowe will succeed Etten as president.
“Matt’s leadership capabilities and experience, as well as his lengthy tenure as a member of the firm’s board of directors, ideally position him to lead Ruder Ware going forward,” Etten said in a news release.
Rowe, 49, joined Ruder Ware in 1997 and has focused his practice on corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, representation of bank and other financial institutions, and providing general corporate advice and counsel to a wide range of closely held and family owned businesses. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was a managing editor of the Minnesota Law Review. Rowe will continue to provide legal services to clients in addition to serving as the sixth president in the 101-year history of the firm.
Etten will continue as a full-time attorney and shareholder of the firm, with his practice focused on business transactional matters, including secured loan documentation, mergers and acquisitions, and bank regulatory issues, according to Ruder Ware.
