OVERVIEW
At Bank Director, we are dedicated to empowering and educating the next generation of banking leaders to become top performers at their institutions. That’s why we created the Bank C-Suite Summit, the premier banking leadership conference designed to not only accelerate your bank’s growth but also refine the leadership capabilities of today’s senior banking executives.

PRE-SUMMIT OPPORTUNITIES | SUNDAY, APRIL 25

• Workshop 1: Leading Forward: Building a Leadership Pipeline For The Future

  This workshop equips banking c-suite leaders with the frameworks, tools and practical strategies needed to build a sustainable leadership pipeline and a culture where developing leaders is everyone’s responsibility. This workshop bridges the often-separated disciplines of succession planning and leadership development into a single, cohesive approach – helping institutions build their future C-suite from within while maintaining strategic momentum through leadership transitions. Participants leave with structured approaches to assessing executive readiness, personalized development planning tools and concrete action commitments they can implement immediately at their institutions.

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
  Welcome & Introductions

  10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  Peer Collaboration Session 1: Identifying & Developing Your Next Generation of Leaders
  This session helps banking executives move from reactive staffing to proactive talent development. Participants discover how to spot high-potential leaders early, differentiate between high performers and true succession candidates and build a leadership pipeline aligned with their bank’s strategic vision. The session explores frameworks for identifying emerging leadership talent before urgency demands shortcuts, ensuring institutions develop their future c-suite from within rather than looking externally when gaps emerge.

  11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 2: The Succession Blueprint – CEO & Executive Team Planning
  This session walks through the critical process of building succession plans that protect institutional continuity. Participants explore how to create CEO succession roadmaps that preserve culture and stakeholder confidence, coordinate succession planning across the executive team to eliminate single points of failure and develop strategies for both internal candidate development and external leadership acquisition. The session addresses knowledge transfer challenges and how to maintain strategic momentum through leadership transitions.

  12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  Lunch

  1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 3: The Coaching Culture
  This session transforms how executives approach leadership development by shifting from directive management to coaching-based leadership. Participants learn coaching competencies that unlock team potential, understand the distinct roles of mentoring and sponsoring in developing high-potential talent and practice coaching conversations. The session also covers emotional intelligence and executive presence as essential succession readiness factors and how building a coaching mindset creates a multiplier effect throughout the organization.

  2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
  Refreshment Break

  2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 4: Assessing Readiness & Building Your Leadership Legacy
  This session moves participants from frameworks to action by creating concrete development plans. Participants learn structured approaches to assessing executive readiness beyond intuition, discover tools for evaluating leadership preparedness including 360 assessments and behavioral evaluations and craft personalized development plans for high-potential successors.

  3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
  Wrap Up and Q&A

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Workshop 2: Strengthening Your Bank’s Balance Sheet

  This workshop equips banking leaders with practical frameworks to defend core funding, optimize net interest margin, manage CRE risk and diversify into high-margin lending opportunities. Participants leave with actionable strategies tailored to the realities of community and regional banking.

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
  Welcome & Introductions

  10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  Peer Collaboration Session 1: Deposit Strategy & Core Funding Defense
  This session examines the intensifying battle for deposits and how community banks can fight back. Participants analyze deposit beta trends and the competitive landscape shaped by fintechs, credit unions and neobanks, while learning what peer institutions are experiencing. The session explores building multi-channel retention and growth strategies that deepen relationships through bundled services, personalized pricing and proactive relationship management – giving banks a sustainable advantage that rate-only competitors cannot easily replicate.

  11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 2: NIM Management & Asset/Liability Strategy
  This session provides banking executives with practical tactics for navigating interest rate risk and liquidity management in an uncertain rate environment. Participants learn how to plan for multiple interest rate scenarios rather than betting on a single outcome and explore strategies for optimizing the balance sheet mix between loans and securities. The session emphasizes building flexibility into asset and liability structures so institutions can protect margin regardless of which way rates move, while maintaining the liquidity needed to fund growth.

  12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  Lunch

  1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 3: CRE Portfolio Management & Credit Quality
  This session addresses the growing scrutiny around CRE concentrations and equips participants to stay ahead of both credit deterioration and examiner expectations. Participants learn to identify early warning indicators, establish meaningful concentration limits and implement stress testing protocols that reveal hidden vulnerabilities. The session also covers developing strategies for working proactively with troubled CRE borrowers before problems escalate and understanding examiner priorities for CRE documentation – helping banks demonstrate strong risk management rather than scrambling to respond after findings.

  2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
  Refreshment Break

  2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 4: Loan Portfolio Diversification & Growth
  This session challenges banking leaders to look beyond traditional CRE lending and identify high-margin opportunities that reduce concentration risk while driving revenue growth. Participants explore data-driven approaches to identifying small and mid-sized business market opportunities within their footprint, assess lending verticals that align with their institution’s strengths and risk appetite and develop a diversification roadmap that balances growth ambitions with credit discipline. The session emphasizes practical strategies for building a more resilient and profitable loan portfolio for the long term.

  3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
  Wrap Up and Q&A

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Workshop 3: Strategic Plan Design

  This workshop guides banking executives through a comprehensive strategic planning process. From external environmental scan to internal assessment to strategic choice formulation to disciplined execution. Participants leave with frameworks they can immediately apply to refresh their institution’s strategic plan and the governance mechanisms to keep strategy alive throughout the year.

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
  Welcome & Introductions

  10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  Peer Collaboration Session 1: Foundations & External Environment Analysis
  This session grounds participants in the external realities shaping community banking strategy today. Participants examine the current regulatory landscape and its implications for strategic flexibility, use SWOT analysis tailored specifically to regional banking with emphasis on local economic drivers and deposit competition and map their true competitive landscape – recognizing that competitors now extend beyond traditional bank peers to large banks, credit unions and fintechs. The session concludes with customer segment analysis, helping leaders understand their positioning across retail, SMB, commercial and wealth management.

  11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 2: Internal Assessment & Strategic Positioning
  This session helps banking leaders take a clear-eyed, data-driven look at their institution’s current capabilities and vulnerabilities. Participants analyze core deposit stability, cost structure and concentration risks – examining the funding foundation that underpins all strategic options. The session covers loan portfolio diagnostics including CRE concentration, industry diversification, and credit quality trends, alongside technology maturity assessment spanning core systems, digital channels, and data analytics. Leaders also evaluate human capital readiness including succession depth, digital skills gaps and culture alignment with strategic aspirations.

  12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  Lunch

  1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 3: Strategy Formulation & Strategic Choices
  This session moves assessment into action, helping leaders weigh the strategic pathways available to their institution. Participants engage with the critical grow-versus-sell decision framework, asking whether independence remains sustainable and valuable in a consolidating industry. The session explores strategic options including organic growth through market share capture and new product development, partnership models leveraging fintech relationships and consolidation plays through regional mergers or mutual conversions. Participants also examine digital strategy choices and scenario planning for rate, recession and regulatory risks.

  2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
  Refreshment Break

  2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 4: Implementation, Governance & Execution
  This session transforms strategic choices into actionable execution frameworks. Participants learn to prioritize strategic initiatives against capacity and capital constraints, establish capital allocation frameworks balancing growth investments with dividend sustainability and sequence technology investments along the journey from core systems to digital banking to data and AI capabilities. The session introduces a Balanced Scorecard tailored for regional banks, covering financial metrics, customer measures, process efficiency and organizational learning – and establishes governance cadences including quarterly business reviews and annual strategic refreshes.

  3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
  Wrap Up and Q&A

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Workshop 4: Growth – M&A and Organic Expansion

  This workshop helps banking leaders evaluate the full spectrum of growth options available to their institution, from M&A transactions to organic market expansion to sharpening their competitive differentiation. Participants leave with a clearer understanding of which growth path aligns with their bank’s strategic vision, stakeholder expectations and operational capacity.

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
  Welcome & Introductions

  10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  Peer Collaboration Session 1: The Current M&A Landscape
  This session provides banking executives with a clear-eyed view of the current M&A market for community and regional banks. Participants examine valuation trends and deal structures relevant to their asset range and work through a strategic framework for evaluating whether to pursue acquisition, seek a merger of equals, sell or remain independent. The session emphasizes aligning strategic options with board and shareholder objectives, helping leaders move beyond default assumptions about growth and make decisions grounded in their institution’s specific circumstances and market realities.

  11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 2: M&A Execution & Due Diligence
  This session guides participants through the practical realities of executing a bank transaction once the strategic decision is made. Participants learn how to prepare their institution for a potential deal, navigate the due diligence process effectively to uncover both risks and opportunities and understand the integration challenges that determine whether a transaction creates or destroys value. The session highlights common M&A pitfalls that erode shareholder value and provides best practices for integration planning, helping leaders approach execution with the discipline and foresight that successful transactions require.

  12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  Lunch

  1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 3: Organic Growth Strategies
  This session explores how banks can grow market share and expand their footprint without pursuing M&A. Participants learn to identify high-potential growth opportunities within their existing markets and develop strategies to capture share from competitors. The session covers leveraging digital capabilities to extend reach and enhance service offerings, and examines pathways for expanding into new markets, business lines, and customer segments. The focus is on practical, achievable growth strategies that align with the institution’s current capabilities and capital position.

  2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
  Refreshment Break

  2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 4: Your Bank’s Uniqueness
  This session challenges banking leaders to identify and lean into what makes their institution genuinely distinct in a crowded market. Participants develop actionable differentiation strategies grounded in their bank’s unique strengths, rather than chasing competitors or copying industry trends. The session focuses on clarifying what your bank does best, communicating that differentiation to the market and aligning organizational resources behind those strengths. Participants leave with a sharper understanding of how their bank’s uniqueness can become its most defensible growth strategy.

  3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
  Wrap Up and Q&A

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Workshop 5: Building a Practical AI & Technology Roadmap for Community Banks

  This workshop helps banking leaders cut through the AI hype and build a practical, sequenced technology roadmap tailored to their institution’s size, budget, and maturity. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of where to start, how to govern the journey, and how to build the data foundation that makes AI investment worthwhile.

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
  Welcome & Introductions

  10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  Peer Collaboration Session 1: AI Landscape & Opportunity Assessment
  Participants identify the highest-ROI AI use cases for community banks, exploring practical applications across loan underwriting, fraud detection, customer service, back-office automation, document processing and marketing. The session guides leaders through assessing their institution’s AI readiness across infrastructure, data quality, talent and governance dimensions, and provides a structured framework for building a compelling business case that translates AI investment into board-ready ROI and cost-benefit analysis.

  11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 2: System Modernization
  This session addresses the foundational technology decisions that determine whether AI investments will succeed or stall. Participants evaluate their current tech stack and modernization priorities, identifying which legacy systems represent the greatest barriers to AI adoption and digital advancement. The session focuses specifically on how community banks can address legacy system challenges without enterprise-level budgets, exploring pragmatic modernization approaches including phased replacements, API layers that extend legacy system life and partnership models that provide access to modern capabilities without requiring full core replacement.

  12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  Lunch

  1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 3: AI Implementation & Governance
  This session equips banking leaders with the frameworks needed to deploy AI responsibly and sustainably within a regulated environment. Participants learn how to design an AI governance framework that establishes cross-functional oversight, addresses model risk management requirements and meets documentation expectations from examiners. The session also addresses the human capital transition to an AI-augmented workforce, covering reskilling strategies and change management and provides practical approaches to measuring and validating AI model performance to ensure investments deliver expected outcomes without introducing unintended risk.

  2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
  Refreshment Break

  2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  Peer Collaboration Session 4: Data Strategy
  This session addresses the often-overlooked foundation that determines whether AI investments deliver value or disappoint: data. Participants learn how to develop a data strategy that directly supports AI adoption, with particular focus on regulatory compliance requirements that shape how banking data can be collected, stored and utilized. The session covers establishing data quality standards, implementing data governance practices and breaking down organizational and system silos that prevent institutions from generating the unified, reliable data needed to power meaningful AI and analytics capabilities.

  3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
  Wrap Up and Q&A

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Pre-Conference | Sunday | April 25, 2027

  9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  Workshop 1: Leading Forward: Building a Leadership Pipeline For The Future
  This workshop equips banking c-suite leaders with the frameworks, tools and practical strategies needed to build a sustainable leadership pipeline and a culture where developing leaders is everyone’s responsibility. This workshop bridges the often-separated disciplines of succession planning and leadership development into a single, cohesive approach – helping institutions build their future C-suite from within while maintaining strategic momentum through leadership transitions. Participants leave with structured approaches to assessing executive readiness, personalized development planning tools and concrete action commitments they can implement immediately at their institutions.

  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  Workshop 2: Strengthening Your Bank’s Balance Sheet
  This workshop equips banking leaders with practical frameworks to defend core funding, optimize net interest margin, manage CRE risk and diversify into high-margin lending opportunities. Participants leave with actionable strategies tailored to the realities of community and regional banking.

  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  Workshop 3: Strategic Plan Design
  This workshop guides banking executives through a comprehensive strategic planning process. From external environmental scan to internal assessment to strategic choice formulation to disciplined execution. Participants leave with frameworks they can immediately apply to refresh their institution’s strategic plan and the governance mechanisms to keep strategy alive throughout the year.

  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  Workshop 4: Growth – M&A and Organic Expansion
  This workshop helps banking leaders evaluate the full spectrum of growth options available to their institution, from M&A transactions to organic market expansion to sharpening their competitive differentiation. Participants leave with a clearer understanding of which growth path aligns with their bank’s strategic vision, stakeholder expectations and operational capacity.

  10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  Workshop 5: Building a Practical AI & Technology Roadmap for Community Banks
  This workshop helps banking leaders cut through the AI hype and build a practical, sequenced technology roadmap tailored to their institution’s size, budget, and maturity. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of where to start, how to govern the journey, and how to build the data foundation that makes AI investment worthwhile.

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  Welcoming Peer & Guest Reception
  To kick off the Corporate Governance Workshop and C-Suite Summit, we invite all participants – and their guests – to join us for refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

• Day One | Monday | April 26. 2027

  7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
  Breakfast & Registration

  8:00 AM – 8:05 AM
  Day One Welcome
  Michelle King, CEO, Bank Director
  Laura Schield, President & COO, Bank Director
  Bank Director welcomes all attendees to the third annual Bank C-Suite Summit in Chicago.

  8:05 AM – 8:35 AM
  The State of Our Industry
  In this session, hear the current state of the banking industry and the underlying factors driving change and creating opportunities for community banks today.

  8:35 AM – 9:05 AM
  Building An Institution for Sustainable Growth
  The decisions bank executives make today, about technology investments, talent development, strategic partnerships and evolving business models, will shape their institution’s competitive position for the next decade. This panel discussion explores how leaders can navigate the forces transforming the industry, from technology adoption and digital innovation to workforce evolution and shifting customer expectations.

  9:15 AM – 9:50 AM
  Breakout Sessions (select one)

  Breakout 1: Structure, Focus & Time Management for Bank Executives
  The demands on bank executives have never been greater: more decisions, more complexity, more competing priorities and never enough hours in the day. Few leaders are ever taught how to manage themselves with the same rigor they bring to managing their institutions. This session delivers practical frameworks for prioritization, personal operating systems and executive effectiveness.

  Breakout 2: Beyond the C-Suite: Building Leadership at Every Level
  In a rapidly evolving financial landscape shaped by AI, regulatory shifts, and growing succession gaps, financial institutions can no longer rely solely on traditional C-suite pipelines—they must cultivate leaders at every level. This session explores how organizations can identify emerging talent early, develop them through intentional growth pathways, and build a culture that empowers distributed leadership.

  Breakout 3: AI in Banking: Moving From Pilot to Production
  The gap between experimenting with AI and actually deploying it at scale is where strategy, compliance and ROI collide. This session addresses the apprehension of examining what community banks are putting to work today, what the numbers actually show and how to build the governance guardrails that keep regulators and your board comfortable.

  Breakout 4: Lending, Deposits & Digital Tools for Small Business Banking
  Small businesses are your most valuable and most at-risk relationships. Yet most community banks still manage SMB loans, deposits, treasury and digital touchpoints in silos. This session breaks down what the data says about attrition risk, what it takes to become the go-to financial partner across the entire small-business relationship, and which tools drive stickiness.

  9:50 AM – 10:05 AM
  Refreshment Break

  10:05 AM – 10:35 AM
  Navigating a New Regulatory Era
  The regulatory environment is shifting faster than at any point in recent memory. Bank executives are managing a landscape defined by simultaneous deregulation in some areas and intensifying new obligations in others. This session cuts through the complexity and uncovers what it means for day-to-day bank operations, risk management and long-term performance.

  10:35 AM – 11:05 AM
  Reaching the Next Threshold
  Breaking through to the next asset threshold requires more than capital; it demands the right decisions at the right moments, the resilience to recover from the ones that didn’t work and the vision to keep building when the path forward isn’t clear. In this candid panel discussion, industry experts who have guided banks across critical asset-size thresholds – from early-stage community banks to $1 billion and beyond – share the unfiltered realities of what it takes to break through.

  11:15 AM – 12:20 PM
  Peer Exchanges: Session 1
  A highlight of the Bank Director events, during the Summit, banker participants are divided by similar titles, roles and responsibilities to candidly discuss and debate various topics and issues facing banks today. All peer exchanges are led by an industry advisor and are conducted in a closed-door, off-the-record setting.

  Technology-Focused Peer Exchange

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Talent: Building Your Team
  • Making the Right Investment
  • Integration Challenges
  • Risk Considerations
  • Due Diligence Best Practices

  Human Resources & Talent-Focused Peer Exchange

  • Talent
  • Compensation
  • Succession Planning
  • Developing the Next Talent Pool
  • Incentive Compensation – does it align with your strategic plan?
  • Creating Your Growth Plan: What’s Next?

  Marketing-Focused Peer Exchange

  • Data
  • Products/Services
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
  • Niche Banking
  • Branding
  • Competition

  Finance & Risk Focused Peer Exchange

  • Balance Sheet Management
  • Growth Initiatives & Strategy
  • Growing Organically
  • Competitive Threats
  • Making the Right Investments
  • Risk Management
  • Technology Budget: Impact on the Bank
  • IT Risks
  • Regulation
  • Credit Risk

  12:20 PM – 1:20 PM
  Networking Lunch

  1:20 PM – 1:50 PM
  Succession Planning Strategies for Today’s Leadership Challenges
  Retirements are accelerating, the competition for executive talent is intensifying, and the skills required to lead a modern bank are evolving faster than most succession plans account for. This session explores practical, proven strategies for identifying, developing and retaining the next generation of banking leaders.

  1:50 PM – 2:20 PM
  The Moments That Shaped Our Institutions
  Every bank has a handful of decisions that fundamentally changed its trajectory: a bold acquisition, a strategic pivot or a choice made in the middle of a crisis. In this session, bank CEOs pull back the curtain on the moments that defined their institutions, the thinking behind those calls and what they would, or wouldn’t, do differently.

  2:30 PM – 3:05 PM
  Breakout Sessions (select one)

  Breakout 1: How Community Banks Compete and Win Against Larger Institutions
  Community banks can’t out-product, out-price, or out-tech the mega-banks but consistently win on relationship, speed and local knowledge when those strengths are properly leveraged. This session explores ways to utilize market share against larger competitors and address areas where community banks are genuinely losing and why.

  Breakout 2: Communicating Your Strategic Plan
  Most banks have a strategic plan. Far fewer have a strategy their people can actually recite, act on or connect to their daily work. The gap between a well-crafted plan and an organization that truly executes on it is almost always a communication problem not a strategy problem. This session gives executives practical frameworks for translating c-suite vision into department-level goals, individual scorecards and the daily behaviors that move the needle.

  Breakout 3: The Payments Revolution
  The payments landscape is shifting faster than most community banks can react: FedNow real-time payments, digital wallets, embedded finance, stablecoins and Buy Now Pay Later are all reshaping how customers move money. This session gives executives a clear-eyed view of which payment trends will matter for their institution and which to ignore.

  Breakout 4: What 2027 Means for Regulation & Community Banks
  The regulatory landscape is shifting faster than most community banks can track and the decisions being made in Washington today will reshape how you operate, compete and grow tomorrow. From evolving capital requirements and CFPB changes to CRA modernization and the emerging stablecoin and crypto regulatory framework, the stakes have rarely been higher. This session cuts through the uncertainty to give executives a clear-eyed view of what’s coming, what it means for your institution, and how to position your bank ahead of the curve not behind it.

  3:15 PM – 3:50 PM
  Breakout Sessions (select one)

  Breakout 1: Winning Distinction in a Hyper-Competitive Market
  Core deposit growth is the #1 balance sheet challenge facing community banks right now: rising funding costs, brokered deposit risks and fintech competition are all squeezing net interest margin. This session discusses how to build core deposits through relationship deepening, digital onboarding improvements and small business strategies.

  Breakout 2: Breaking Down Silos
  Organizational dysfunction can be a deeply frustrating issue in institutions looking to grow: credit underwriting that slows lenders down, compliance that feels adversarial, support functions disconnected from revenue goals. The root cause is almost always misaligned incentives, unclear ownership, and poor cross-functional communication. This session names the problem directly and provides a diagnostic framework.

  Breakout 3: AI in Banking: Moving From Pilot to Production
  The gap between experimenting with AI and actually deploying it at scale is where strategy, compliance and ROI collide. This session addresses the apprehension to examining what community banks are putting to work today, what the numbers actually show and how to build the governance guardrails that keep regulators and your board comfortable.

  Breakout 4: Balance Sheet Strategies for Private and Family-Owned Banks
  Running a privately held or family-owned bank comes with a set of pressures that public institutions simply don’t face and that most off-the-shelf strategic advice wasn’t built to address. This session tackles the balance sheet challenges unique to privately held and family-owned institutions head-on from managing capital without public market pressure to navigating M&A on your own terms.

  3:50 PM – 4:05 PM
  Refreshment Break

  4:05 PM – 5:05 PM
  Peer Exchanges: Session 2
  Building on the first round of peer exchanges, banker participants return to their same peer groups and attend the second round of peer exchange sessions facilitated by industry leaders.

  5:05 PM – 6:05 PM
  Networking Peer & Guest Reception

• Day Two | Tuesday | April 27. 2027

  7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
  Breakfast

  8:00 AM – 8:05 AM
  Day Two Welcome
  Michelle King, CEO, Bank Director
  Laura Schield, President & COO, Bank Director

  8:05 AM – 8:35 AM
  Mission Driven Growth Strategy
  Community and regional banks are navigating an environment where big banks are deploying technology at scale and fintechs are targeting the most profitable corners of the retail and small business markets. This panel discussion shares what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to winning and maintaining customer relationships.

  8:45 AM – 9:20 AM
  Breakout Sessions (select one)

  Breakout 1: The Budget Reckoning
  Often times marketing budgets are often the first to be cut and the hardest to defend. This session provides a practical framework for allocating marketing spend across channels (digital, print, sponsorships, events) and critically how to measure and communicate marketing ROI to your board and CEO.

  Breakout 2: Connecting HR Strategy to the Bank’s Operating Plan
  A strategic plan without a workforce plan is incomplete. When people strategy is treated as an afterthought, growth goals stall, technology investments underperform and succession gaps surface. This session explores how to build an integrated workforce plan that functions as a genuine input to, not a byproduct of, your bank’s operating plan, ensuring the right people are in the right seats to execute your strategy.

  Breakout 3: The Next Frontier of Banking Intelligence
  Artificial intelligence is no longer just answering questions, it is taking action. Agentic AI systems can autonomously execute tasks, make decisions, and adapt in real time, fundamentally changing how banks operate and serve customers. In this session, discover where agentic AI is delivering measurable value in banking today, how to deploy it responsibly and what your institution must do now to stay ahead.

  Breakout 4: Growing Your Loan Portfolio in a Shifting Rate Environment
  In today’s rate environment, the margin for error in loan growth has never been smaller. Credit quality, CRE exposure and consumer lending mix are converging in ways that demand smarter portfolio strategy. This session examines how community banks are using data to identify opportunities, manage concentration risk and build lending strategies that hold up across rate cycles.

  9:20 AM – 9:40 AM
  Refreshment Break

  9:40 AM – 10:40 AM
  Peer Exchanges: Session 3
  Banker participants return to their previous peer exchange groups for the third round of peer exchange sessions facilitated by industry leaders.

  10:50 AM – 11:20 AM
  Keynote: Leading With Grit and Purpose
  The most enduring institutions aren’t built on favorable conditions; they’re built on clear vision, sound strategy and leaders who refuse to back down when the path gets hard. In this keynote, a proven banking CEO shares the leadership philosophy developed over a career defined by adversity, bold decision-making and the relentless pursuit of growth.

  11:20 AM – 11:50 AM
  What We Know Now That We Wish We Knew Then
  The path to the CEO chair is rarely a straight line, and the lessons learned along the way are often the ones that matter most. In this candid discussion, seasoned bank CEOs reflect on the hard-won insights, unexpected challenges and pivotal moments that shaped how they lead today.

  11:50 AM – 11:55 AM
  Closing Remarks

The JW Marriott Chicago is a landmark luxury family hotel in downtown Chicago. Take advantage of a central location on Chicago’s famous Loop – near Union Station, West Loop restaurants, the Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park, Magnificent Mile, the Field Museum and Soldier Field. Treat yourself to luxury amenities at the hotel in downtown Chicago like an on-site spa, indoor swimming pool, modern fitness center and large soaking tubs in each room. Sample the authentic cuisine and specialty cocktails at the restaurant and lounge. Then retreat to a spectacular hotel room or suite inspired by Pullman’s iconic luxury railcars.

Discounted Hotel Rate
There is a discounted hotel room rate available for conference attendees at the JW Marriott Chicago until Wednesday, April 5, 2027, or until all rooms are reserved. To reserve a room, click here or contact the hotel directly at 629-208-8380 and mention “Bank Director” to receive the discounted rate of $334/night for a standard room. Rooms are limited, so please book early!

For more information regarding registration, refunds, concerns and/or program cancellation policies, please contact our events department at 877-397-7595 or events@bankdirector.com.

• Who should attend the Bank C-Suite Summit?

  The Bank C-Suite Summit was created specifically for members of a bank’s senior management team. Attendees include chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief risk officers, chief marketing officers, chief administrative officers, chief operations officers, chief human resource officers and other senior executives responsible for the bank’s growth.

• Why should I attend the Bank C-Suite Summit?

  The Bank C-Suite Summit brings together unparalleled insight from leading experts in audit, compensation, risk management, corporate governance, regulation, succession planning, attracting and developing talent, and strategic planning, to provide bank executives with the latest information on best practices in all of the critical areas facing banks today.

  Additionally, the Summit offers participants the opportunity to engage with their constituents from across the U.S. through interactive peer exchanges and topic-focused breakout sessions.

• How much does this conference cost and what does the fee cover?

  The standard individual registration rate is $2,495; however, attendees should contact our conference department at 877-397-7595 or events@bankdirector.com for special early and group rates. This fee includes all conference activities, materials and meals at the event site. It does not include travel or hotel accommodations.

• What if I need to cancel my reservation for the conference?

  Due to commitments and expenses, all cancellations after March 8, 2027, will be subject to a $300 processing fee. We regret that no refunds will be given after March 29, 2027; however, substitute participants are welcome. DirectorCorps, Inc. assumes no liability for any nonrefundable travel, hotel or related expenses incurred by registrants.

• Can I bring a guest?

  Yes, we do have a guest program. The guest rate of $250 covers all evening receptions. Guests are not allowed to attend sessions. A guest is a spouse, significant other or friend who is not in a financial services occupation. A co-worker (even a spouse co-worker) or an associate within the financial services industry is not considered a guest.

• Is CPE available for this conference?

  DirectorCorps, Inc., the parent company of Bank Director, is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.

  Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org. Visit their information page for CPE learning objectives, program levels, prerequisites, recommended credits and complaint resolutions.

  All of Bank Director’s education programs are classified as “Basic” program level with no pre-requisites or advance preparation required for participation in these events. All events fall under “Group-Live” delivery method. At the event, attendees will be required to keep a timesheet and attendance at sessions will be monitored in order for attendees to receive the appropriate number of credits and a certificate of completion following the event.

  For questions about the program and about the number of credits awarded for this event, please contact Bank Director’s conference department at events@bankdirector.com or 877-397-7595.