Company: WTFCN
Filing Date: 2025-04-03
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-031671
Chunk: 31

Company: WINTRUST FINANCIAL CORP
Filing Date: 2025-04-03
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 31
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 vibrant and inclusive workforce and, through our sixteen chartered community banks, by maintaining strong ties to the communities in which our clients live, work and do business. Although not an exhaustive list, examples of the Company’s activities that reflect our strong commitment to corporate social responsibility include: Community Service and Partnership • We collaborate with a wide range of nonprofits and community organizations to strengthen low-to- moderate income neighborhoods through our community outreach programs. • We provided financial support of approximately $12.8 million to more than 2,000 community organizations in 2024. • We provide financial education throughout the communities that are served by Wintrust community banks. Our 2024 financial education involved approximately 1,500 sessions, 20,000 workshop attendees, and 3,200 teaching hours. • We currently maintain an “Outstanding” rating under the Community Reinvestment Act at twelve of sixteen of our community bank charters. Environmental Sustainability At Wintrust we strive to minimize our environmental impact. Although as a financial services company our energy use and water use are relatively small, we nevertheless take pride in promoting natural resource conservation through recycling and water and energy conservation. In our efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility and operate at an increased level of resource efficiency we: • Endeavor to reduce water consumption at our local bank branches and corporate headquarters, in most cases using low-volume flush valves and motion-activated faucets that help us reduce our water use. • Continue to measure and track energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for each owned location. • Enhance air quality in all of our buildings combining improved Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) ratings in our air filters and bipolar ionization technology to deliver clean air to our spaces for our customers and employees. • Construct and remodel our buildings utilizing environmental best practices wherever possible. All new construction of our buildings have LED lighting and high efficiency HVAC systems. Our strategy is to meet and, in many cases, exceed the guidelines for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and ENERGY STAR certification, and several of our locations are LEED or ENERGY STAR certified, although we generally forego the expense of formal certification. 23 TABLE OF CONTENTS • Our corporate headquarters received ENERGY STAR certification when it opened in 2013, receiving a score of 80 out of 100, making our headquarters building a top performer in terms of energy performance standards and greenhouse gas emissions. Additional environmental sustainability initiatives on our headquarters campus include geothermal energy systems, high efficiency HVAC systems, LED lighting and modernized elevators for maximum energy efficiency.