Robert D. Kunisch Jr.

Robert Kunisch has spent his entire banking career in Maryland, beginning in 1990 at Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Company and, later, its acquirer, PNC Bank. After holding several management positions, he turned down the opportunity to serve as president of PNC’s greater Baltimore market in 2007.

Preferring to work for a smaller community bank, Kunisch joined Wilmington Trust FSB in 2008. When M&T Bancorp acquired the bank in 2011, he again pursued his desire to work at a community bank by joining 1st Mariner Bank as a consultant to the board. He and Jack Steil led the group of local Baltimore investors who acquired 1st Mariner in 2014. Kunisch took over as 1st Mariner's Chief Executive Officer in July of 2017 and was appointed President when Howard Bank acquired 1st Mariner in March of 2018.