JOE EXNER
CEO, Board Director
When Joe Exner accepted Stuart Steele's invitation to help him build the Steele Foundation for Hope, Joe brought with him the values he learned from his parents, Jane and Bill Exner. Jane Exner honed her operational strengths and financial management expertise as Stuart's business partner for over 30 years. The late Rev. William Exner dedicated his life to the service of others as the Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. Joe has approached his life's work with a capitalist’s mindset and a social worker’s empathy.
In 2000, Joe graduated from Middlebury College and joined a Fortune 500 financial services company. Joe began his career as an individual contributor, successfully building a book of business as a financial advisor. He advanced through the field and corporate leadership ranks for the next two decades. In his final field leadership role, he was responsible for a team of over 400 financial advisors and operations professionals across nine states.
During Joe's time in corporate leadership, he led national teams responsible for driving the firm's financial advisory services and client acquisition initiatives. He also worked extensively on competitive acquisitions and made strategic contributions to expanding the firm's investment platform, navigating the regulatory environment, integrating acquisitions, and developing client and advisor messaging. In 2009, Joe was named an officer of the firm. Over his 21-year tenure, his contributions helped the company grow assets under management to more than $1 trillion and add more than $20 billion in market capitalization.
In August of 2021, Stuart invited Joe to meet for breakfast. "I don't know anything about foundations, and neither do you," Stuart said to Joe, and then finished with, "But, together, I bet we can figure it out." Partnering with Stuart to build and lead a multibillion-dollar foundation seemed like the perfect opportunity to leverage the values he inherited from his parents and his expertise and experience in financial services.
On October 1, 2021, Joe became CEO of the Steele Foundation for Hope. Since then, he and Stuart have talked nearly every day, sharing experiences, challenging each other, and merging ideas to establish a path forward for the foundation. They agreed to learn by doing, acknowledged the inevitability of experiencing failures, and committed to continuously improving the Steele Foundation for Hope’s focus, clarity, and impact. Their strategy reflects their combined vision, values, and experiences.
When he is not working with the foundation, Joe is most likely at a horse show with his wife, Jill, watching his daughters, Cassidy and Lucy, compete.