Willard C. Butcher

Who was Willard C. Butcher?

Willard Carlisle Butcher was chairman and CEO of The Chase Manhattan Bank, serving from 1980-1991.

Butcher joined Chase National Bank, predecessor to Chase Manhattan, in 1947 and spent his early career in Chase’s midtown Manhattan branch system. He later headed Chase’s retail and corporate business for midtown Manhattan and subsequently moved to the international department in 1969, where he headed operations in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, before becoming executive vice president in charge of Chase’s international operations. After a short tenure as Chase’s vice chairman in charge of worldwide planning, expansion and diversification, Butcher was named president and chief operating officer of the bank in 1972, reporting to David Rockefeller, then chairman and CEO.

Together, Rockefeller and Butcher expanded Chase into an institution operating in more than 50 countries – including Russia, Egypt and China, where American banks hadn’t previously operated—through direct branches, 54 foreign subsidiaries and associated banks and trust companies. When Butcher retired from Chase in 1991, the bank employed 41,500 people around the world. He was also vice chairman of the Chase International Advisory Committee.