Editors’ Note

Maribeth Rahe is president and chief executive officer of Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. Prior to joining Fort Washington, Rahe was president and a board member of the United States Trust Company of New York. Additionally, she also has served as vice chair of the board of The Harris Bank (now BMO) in Chicago and has held various positions at J.P. Morgan in London and New York. Rahe serves on several regional and national boards of directors, including The Greater Cincinnati Foundation; Cincinnati Arts Association, vice chair; Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Development Advisory Board; Xavier University Williams College of Business Board of Executive Advisors; First Financial Bancorp and First Financial Bank, N.A.; and Cincinnati Country Club. She also serves as a life trustee to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center and New York Landmarks Conservancy. A well-known and acknowledged expert in financial services, Rahe was featured in Vanity Fair magazine as one of “America’s Most Influential Women – 200 Legends, Leaders and Trailblazers.” Rahe was named one of the 2025 Women of the Year by the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. The award honors women who have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the Greater Cincinnati region through leadership, service and philanthropy. Most recently, she was one of eight honorees for the Urban League’s 32nd Glorifying the Lions. She has received numerous other awards over her career and is frequently recognized as one of the top business leaders in Cincinnati and Ohio. A native of Chicago, Rahe is a graduate of Bowling Green State University. She was also a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University and earned her MBA in international management with honors from Thunderbird School of Global Management. In 2016, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration from Bowling Green State University and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Mount St. Joseph University.

Firm Brief

Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. (westernsouthern.com/fortwashington), a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group, is one of the largest investment advisors in Ohio. The firm provides professional and comprehensive asset management services for institutions, corporations, insurance companies, mutual funds, foundations, associations and high-net-worth individuals.

Western & Southern Financial Group (westernsouthern.com) is a Cincinnati-based diversified family of financial services businesses with assets owned and managed totaling $132.5 billion. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world, with a capital-to-asset ratio significantly higher than the average of the 15 largest publicly traded life insurers doing business in the United States.

Will you discuss your career journey?

My journey was anything but linear, but I’ve spent nearly 50 years in financial services. I earned a BA degree in Spanish literature from Bowling Green State University with the goal of working overseas. I also minored in business, which would later prove invaluable. I considered working for the government, but career opportunities for women in the federal government were very limited.

I was given a four-year PhD Fellowship in Spanish Language and Literature at The Ohio State University. After completing my coursework, I realized I didn’t want to be a professor. I worked with a recruiting firm that assessed my skills and suggested math was a strong suit. At a time when financial services firms were beginning to recruit women, I shifted into the industry and joined a savings and loan in Columbus, Ohio. I enjoyed it but realized I needed a stronger background in business if I was going to be successful. I decided to pursue an MBA at Thunderbird Global School of International Business, which led to a career in international banking, first at Harris Bank in Chicago (now BMO) covering Latin America, followed by a move to London where I covered U.S. and U.K. multinationals as well as parts of Europe.

I was then recruited to join a New York City bank, Morgan Guaranty (now J.P. Morgan), continuing to reside in London as an expatriate to cover Scandinavia. After returning to the U.S., I was asked to take a role in corporate banking. After several months, I was approached to open an office in New York City for a Norwegian bank. I did so, and it started out great, but the bank merged with another Norwegian bank and it was not the same bank I thought I was joining. Morgan invited me back, and I moved into investment management. I later returned to Harris Bank in Chicago, where I became Vice Chairman until U.S. Trust Company of New York recruited me for its executive succession plan. I worked for U.S. Trust as Vice Chairman and later President. We sold U.S. Trust in 2000 to the Charles Schwab Corporation. In 2003, John Barrett of Western & Southern Financial Group recruited me to Fort Washington Investment Advisors, where I’ve been ever since.

Following all of this history may seem a bit complicated, but my husband and I built our careers together. I met him at Thunderbird, and at the time, two international bankers successfully managing parallel careers was a novelty. In recognition of my career achievements, I was one of a handful of women in financial services featured in Vanity Fair magazine as one of “America’s Most Influential Women–200 Legends, Leaders and Trailblazers” in 1998. I was also named as one of the five top women executives in the Fortune 500 in 1997.

Will you provide an overview of your role and areas of focus?

My responsibility as President & CEO of Fort Washington is to ensure that we are, first and foremost, a highly successful business. That means setting clear priorities, aligning our teams around a shared vision, and ensuring we have the right people, processes and strategies in place to execute at a very high level. I oversee our management teams and stay deeply engaged in strategic planning and client relationships. My role is to help position Fort Washington as one of the premier investment management firms in the country and to ensure we deliver on that promise for our colleagues and clients every day.

What have been the keys to Fort Washington’s strength and leadership in the industry?

Our strength comes from a clear strategic plan. Just as important as having the right resources, including people and processes, is executing our plan exceptionally well. The plan must be refreshed every year to ensure it aligns with our long-term objectives. Investment management is a long-term business, and we are long-term investors.

Will you highlight Fort Washington’s services and capabilities?

We are a multi-strategy investment management firm with three key areas of business: Institutional, High Net Worth and Private Equity. Fort Washington provides a broad range of investment solutions across fixed income, public equity, private equity, and private markets to a diverse client base, including insurance companies, endowments, foundations, religious orders, public and nonprofit institutions, corporations, schools and universities, and individuals and families. We apply disciplined investment strategies across a wide spectrum of asset classes and support both our parent company and subsidiaries, as well as third-party clients.

How do you approach your management style?

I am very involved in all our business but lead with a collaborative style. I learned a long time ago that I can’t do everything myself; thus, I believe in accountability, results, and good delegation. You must have the right people in place and give them both the responsibility and authority to do their jobs. To ensure our success, we also need our management team to work in concert.

You commit your time and energy to many nonprofits and charitable causes. What has made this work so important to you?

One of the great rewards of philanthropic work is the opportunity to engage beyond day-to-day business. It introduces you to people from all walks of life and allows you to combine your interests and passions with meaningful work that helps organizations carry out their missions. I have always been involved with a number of organizations across a wide range of interests, including health services, education, the arts, the zoo, financial services, religious organizations and other nonprofits. This work also naturally aligns with our business. Our parent company, Western & Southern Financial Group, and Fort Washington are steadfast supporters of the community. Many of the organizations I’m involved with are also our clients (and prospects), which is a wonderful way to get to know them more deeply and, hopefully, contribute to their success.