Twenty-two financial services experts from 13 states across the U.S. came together in Atlantic City, N.J., as presenters at the first-ever financial services conference, NEXT Forum, co-hosted by Newcleus and Travillian. The day-long series of presentations at the Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa was made possible by all our wonderful sponsors, moderators and panelists.
Talent Management Monopoly
Moderator: Paul Davis, Founder, The Bank Slate
Panelists: Flynt Gallagher, President, Compensation Advisors, Newcleus; Brian Love, Head of Banking and FinTech, Travillian; Keith Daly, Principal, Travillian
The program kicked off with a panel discussion on talent management, specifically on compensation, retention, and succession.
The panelists identified two HR trends currently impacting the financial services industry:
- Baby Boomer CEOs are showing reluctance to retire, which is stifling progression-advancement in the financial services industry
- The needs among fintechs are diverting professionals from banking careers
Both these influences affect banks’ risk and compliance operations, according to Keith Daly, Travillian’s head of Fintech. He observed that the “…Chief Technology Officer role is going to be critical,” especially as innovations like AI continue to advance into the financial services industry.
All-In on Tech Efficiencies
Moderators: Kim Snyder, Founder & CEO, KlariVis; Phil Goldfeder, CEO , American Fintech Council
Panelists: Jesse Honigberg, EVP, Products and Platforms, Customers Bank; Barb MacLean, SVP, Head of Technology Operations & Implementation, Coastal Community Bank; Courtney Sacchetti, EVP, Chief Financial Officer, Bankwell Financial Group, Inc
Participant Barb McLean—SVP, Head of Technology, Operations, and Implementation, Coastal Community Bank, Everett, Wash.—made the following observation about a bank’s investment in a core processor. “When you buy, you essentially become a franchisee (of your core processor), because then you tend to buy [additional solutions]. Start thinking about [your tech company] like a startup: Use [them] for the one thing they’re good at, and stop using them for everything else.”
Running with the High Rollers: Investment Session
Moderator: Mike Perito, Head of Bank Strategy, Travillian
Panelists: Joe Fenech, Founder and CIO, GenOpp Capital Management; Sundeep Rana, Managing Principal, Castle Creek Capital; David Honold, Principal, Patriot Financial Partners
In this session, a panel of public and private bank investors turned its attention to investment strategies. Given current market conditions, the focus fell quickly on commercial real estate (CRE) loans.
Sundeep Rana—Managing Principal of Castle Creek Capital, San Diego—noted performance parsed by geography. “Manhattan, New York, is different from Manhattan, Kansas,” he said. “We’re seeing in our portfolio a fairly sizeable dichotomy between the exposures we have in the Midwest relative to the large metros.”
Bank Empire: M&A and Capital Pursuits
Moderators: Brian Love, Head of Banking & Fintech, Travillian; Paul Davis, Founder, The Bank Slate
Panelists: Frank Sorrentino, Managing Director of Investment Banking, Stephens, Inc.; Jeff Cardone, Partner, Luse Gorman; Jake Dalaya, Chief Strategy Officer, Capital Bank
Three industry experts parsed the current state of M&A and capital considerations for banks and credit unions.
In that analysis, Frank Sorrentino made some wide-reaching observations on merger-of-equals activity (MOE). Sorrentino is Managing Director of Investment Banking, Stephens, Inc., Little Rock, Ark.
“There’s no such thing as an MOE,” he proposed. “Somebody has to win. Somebody has to be the quarterback, right? [You] can’t have two quarterbacks.”
In his analysis of bank M&As overall, he believes “…roughly two-thirds of the deals do not work. Although, the ones that do work, work very, very well.”
Go Back Three Spaces: Reflecting on the State of Embedded Finance
Moderators: Jeff Nowicki, Chief Banking Officer, Treasury Prime; Keith Daly, Principal, Travillian
Panelists: Robert Keil, Chief Fintech Officer, FinWise Bank; Stanley Orszula, Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP; Emily Reisig, SVP, Emprise Embedded Strategic Relationship Leader, Emprise Bank
The next session covered the risks, rewards, and current opportunities for community banks pursuing an embedded finance strategy.
Stanley Orzula — partner, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, Chicago — emphasized that banks should leverage existing expertise when expanding into embedded finance. He described the embedding of financial services directly into nonfinancial platforms as a “natural extension” of financial institutions’ current services like lending and depository products. He advised against adopting embedded finance just for innovation’s sake, urging banks to pursue it with clear growth objectives.
Orzula stressed the need for strong leadership, saying: “”You have to start at the top. It’s helpful to have a bank board [with] at least one tech-forward voice on it, to “… understand what you’re doing.” He underscored the need to prevent the technology from becoming “…just a big, black, magic box.”
Double Down on your Balance Sheet Strategy
Moderators: Mike Perito, Head of Bank Strategy, Travillian; Isaac Wheeler – Managing Director, Head of Balance Sheet Strategy, Derivative Path
Panelists: Scott Hildenbrand, Head of Depository Fixed Income, Piper Sandler; Brian Leibfried, Head of Bank Insights, Performance Trust Capital Partners
In a comment that underscores the value of clear communication when examining balance sheet management, Scott Hildenbrand takes a pragmatic stance. Hildenbrand is Head of Depository Fixed Income, Piper Sandler, Minneapolis.
“I’ve always believed that good CFOs never hear ‘no’ at the board. Great ones always do,” he explains, highlighting the importance of constructive disagreement.
He notes that many banks are chosen by investors because of management, and the management-board relationship is a key dynamic. However, “a lot of great strategies… die in board groups because of the education component.” While boards are filled with “phenomenally talented, incredibly smart folks,” many lack experience in running a spread business, making it difficult for them to fully grasp certain ideas.
Reflecting on past decisions, Hildenbrand states, can help boards understand why they may have rejected certain strategies. “Let’s walk through all three of those elements,” he suggests, so that next time, boards are more open to new ideas that might not seem intuitive at first. Hildenbrand believes the “disconnect… is actually at the top” with the board, not within management or treasury teams, which generally work well together.
Shhh…Talking Politics in a Speakeasy
Moderator: Mike Perito, Head of Bank Strategy, Travillian
Panelists: Trey Maust, Executive Chairman, Lewis & Clark Bancorp; Pat Ryan, President & Chief Executive Officer, First Bank; Mary Kissel, EVP and Senior Policy Advisor, Stephens, Inc
Speaker Mary Kissel — EVP and Senior Policy Advisor, Stephens, Inc., Little Rock, Ark. — frames the upcoming election as a choice between growth and stagnation, with broader implications beyond banking.
She highlights the Republican focus on “smaller government, lighter regulation,” and boosting the energy sector, while warning that the Democratic plan, with its proposed $5 trillion in tax hikes, could return the economy to slower, Obama-era growth.
Kissel predicts significant regulatory changes depending on the outcome, with Democrats potentially appointing Gary Gensler at Treasury and expanding agencies like the CFPB, while Republicans may favor candidates like Kevin Warsh for the Fed. The key question, she says, is who will “stimulate growth” and foster “risk-taking.”
On global relations, Kissel stresses the rise of alliances over bilateral ties, with blocs forming around China, Russia, and Iran versus free nations. U.S.-China relations will likely remain tense regardless of the election outcome, with continued restrictions on sensitive exports and efforts to build key industries domestically. She also underscores the importance of regional dynamics in Canada and Mexico.
Finally, Kissel warns that declining U.S. deterrence has led to global instability. The next president will either “restore U.S. deterrents” or risk larger conflicts, making this election critical for both economic growth and global security.
Headliner: Johnny Allison, Chairman, CEO and Cofounder of Home Bancshares, Inc.
Moderators: Joe Fenech, Founder and CIO, GenOpp Capital Management; Brian Love, Head of Banking & Fintech, Travillian
Speaker: Johnny Allison – Chairman/CEO/Co-Founder, Home Bancshares, Inc.
The NEXT Forum day of education ended with the interview of an industry titan, Johnny Allison, Chairman, CEO, and Cofounder of Home Bancshares, Inc., Conway, Ark.
Allison’s entrepreneurial journey began early, marked by a strong business acumen sharpened in the mobile home industry. “I sold my first mobile home at 13,” Allison recalls.
By the time he was in his twenties, he was running three mobile home manufacturing plants, producing up to 20 homes a day. This success drew the attention of the local banking community, and he was invited to join a bank’s board due to his significant deposits. “Six months later, I was chairman of the board and the largest shareholder.”
However, the path wasn’t without challenges. Shortly after taking over as chairman, the bank received a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from regulators. “I didn’t even know what an MOU was,” Allison admits, but he quickly learned. Faced with financial difficulties, he took decisive action, leveraging all his resources to stabilize the bank. “I had every dime I could beg, borrow, and steal in that deal, so I intended to fix it—and we did.”
Allison’s banking career took off when he merged the bank with First Commercial Corporation in Little Rock, Arkansas. “The market cap was about $50 million when I merged in, and I sold it for $2.7 billion.” After the sale, Allison briefly retired, thinking he was done with banking. However, friends and colleagues convinced him to start another bank, focusing on local relationships. “That was $23 billion ago,” he notes, reflecting on the growth of his current venture.
His experience as an entrepreneur gave him an edge in banking, particularly in understanding the complexities of business from a personal perspective. “No disrespect to bankers, but most of them have never been in that foxhole. When you run a business, you deal with everything, and that gave me such an advantage.”
Allison credits his early business ventures for shaping his approach to banking. He recalls learning the importance of daily financial tracking while in the mobile home business. “I had a data report that told me where I stood every day. Now, I run this company the same way—off daily reports from A to Z. You don’t wait for the month or the quarter to react to a problem.”
A Day of Insight
From attendee reactions at its close, The NEXT Forum was a wholesale success. In reflecting on the event, Dave Yancoskie, Travillian Managing Partner & Head of Investment Banking, said, “We’re grateful to all the sponsors, presenters, and attendees who traveled to Atlantic City for this day-and-a-half presentation of the current and future status of the financial services industry. Our panelists were insightful, sharp, observant, responsive, and plentiful in their observations and analyses.
“We look forward to scheduling the NEXT Forum as an annual event and look forward to welcoming colleagues and industry friends again soon.”
