German American details board chair succession, names president

The board of directors for Jasper-based German American Bancorp Inc. has selected CEO Neil Dauby to succeed the retiring Mark Schroeder as chairman of the board. Additionally, the board has named Brad Rust, who currently serves as chief financial officer and chief operating officer, as president of both German American Bank and its parent.

Schroeder retired as CEO last year, but remained chairman of the board through the end of his term. He was succeeded by Dauby, who had previously served as president and COO.

Tom Seger, lead director for German American, thanked Schroeder for his service in a news release on Monday.

“His board and executive leadership and strong counsel throughout his extensive career enabled the company to grow its footprint, product and service offerings, and employment base as the company grew from a small community bank to a regional financial services company serving banking, insurance and wealth management,” Seger said.

Brad Rust has been with German American since 1999, when the bank merged with 1st Bancorp in Vincennes. He has been the bank’s CFO since 2005 and COO since 2022.

The bank said Rust will continue his role as CFO in addition to his expanded role as president, where he will provide executive oversight over all operations.

“Having worked with Brad for over twenty years, I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead German American to even greater levels of success in the coming years,” said Dauby.

The bank did not detail plans to name a new COO after the transition.