Paul B. Wieand spent 20 years in banking before leaving the corporate world in 1990 to earn a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, subsequently founding a firm that applies and builds upon interdisciplinary and neuroscientific insights that have arisen in the process and within the context of relationships.
During his career in banking, Paul held various chief executive positions, with his most recent being CEO of Sovereign Bancorp, now Santander USA, the US subsidiary of Spain's largest bank.

Paul left banking to pursue studies that would shed light on human behavior. He completed his internship at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, where he specialized in working with a group of middle-aged, high-IQ individuals with severe and chronic emotional challenges. During this time, he read Daniel Goleman’s just-published book, “Emotional Intelligence.” Reading this book ultimately lead to him to develop a view of emotional intelligence that focuses on the primacy of relationships in transforming individuals and organizations.

Paul became deeply interested in the human equation, and more specifically in how individual behavior at senior levels impacts the culture and business potential of an organization.

​
Paul was a correspondent and student of Peter Drucker for 40 years, first as a bank president, then scholar, and now as a practitioner in leadership development. Having led and observed in the banking world numerous mergers and leadership changes, Paul became deeply interested in the convergence of human phenomena that creates effective social structure through collaboration at senior levels. In 1995, he founded the Center for Advanced Emotional Intelligence, where he and his partners apply emotional intelligence to leadership. His clients are senior leaders at some of the world’s most respected organizations and their shared efforts are aimed at raising the leader and organization’s level of mutual trust. Paul finds that success in the long-term depends on trust and integrity and developing these in the leader at the level of identity.

Paul has been affiliated with Drexel University for nearly 40 years, serves on the Dean's Advisory Board to the college of business and advises on interdisciplinary studies relating to neuroscience and leadership. Paul is also an associate at the Taos Institute.
​
Paul has lectured at Wharton Business School, Disney's E Entertainment and Young and Rubicam's Leadership Seminar in Barcelona, Prague, and Lisbon. During 1999, he was one of four feature presenters at the MIT Sloan Leadership Conference on Leading Minds into the Next Century. During 2001, he lectured on Emotional Intelligence at the 83rd Annual Invitational Conference on Human Issues in Management, the longest continuing management conference in the world. In 2013, Paul shared his experiences in a Tedx Talk on Emotional Courage.

Since founding AEI, Paul has coached CEOs, COOs, Chairmen and women, and other senior executives from a broad range of industries and from some of Fortune's Most Admired Companies.