Irv Weiser

The view from Irv Weiser’s nineteenth-floor office is amazing, inside and out. Inside, there are multiple pieces of original art—just a few examples of Weiser’s 400-piece collection that decorates the RBC Plaza. Outside, there’s a view of the Stone Arch Bridge spanning the Mississippi. It’s the kind of office that belongs to someone who knows how to get things done. But if you ask Irv Weiser, former CEO of securities giant RBC Wealth Management, he’ll say he’s had a lot of help along the way.

“It is the thousands of volunteers and the boards that make things happen,” Weiser says. “I just help them find a focus and a direction.” Weiser is speaking specifically of his twenty-year commitment to the Greater Twin Cities United Way, an organization he decided to get involved with because it acts as a “safety net for the community,” enabling a broad spectrum of social programs to benefit a broad spectrum of people. He has lent his service in many ways, including calling fellow CEOs to encourage them to give money, heading capital campaigns, working with an organization’s overall strategy, and identifying and taking steps to solve the most pressing issues. It is an impressive gift of time, considering he had a job and family to balance as well.

“I don’t find it difficult to ask for money if I’m personally engaged in the cause,” Weiser says, adding that deciding to dedicate time to the United Way was easy since “you never know what services you’ll need in life—or that your family, neighbors, or friends will need.”

Weiser’s giving didn’t begin with the United Way. A native of New York, he came to the Twin Cities after graduating from law school. He started at Dorsey and Whitney, where pro bono legal work with the Guthrie led to a board position in 1984 and a lifetime relationship with the institution. He’s also served on the board of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is a chair emeritus of the Children’s Home Society.

Whatever the project, he says, there is one goal—helping the community achieve its full potential: “You can’t be an effective executive without getting enjoyment from others’ success.”