We work with community and regional banks to identify and recruit established commercial bankers, market leaders, and production teams that fit the bank's growth strategy. We focus on bankers with long-term client relationships, strong production history, effective referral networks, deposit-gathering capability, and market credibility. When a bank engages us to fill a specific need, our work is built around direct outreach, practical market intelligence, and a clear understanding of what causes a successful banker to consider a move.
The bankers worth recruiting are rarely the ones applying to postings. Reaching them takes credibility, discretion, and the experience to frame an opportunity in terms that matter to them and their clients. That is what earns a serious conversation.
We conduct searches for our client banks and have successfully filled roles across the commercial banking spectrum, from Commercial Relationship Managers (C&I and CRE) to deposit-focused bankers, and full team lift-outs, up through Market President, Chief Lending Officer, and Chief Banking Officer, among many others.
Our Search Process
- Understand the bankLeadership, credit culture, growth strategy, and treasury capability.
- Start with who we knowWe begin with our proprietary network of commercial bankers and leadership we have identified, spoken with, and tracked over time, while also drawing on trusted referrals and market intelligence.
- Then dig deeperDirect, research-led recruiting to connect with talented bankers we may not have spoken with before, who are well worth a conversation.
- Evaluate fitClient base, production history, compensation, portability, and long-term fit.
- Introduce and supportConfidential introductions, process management, offer strategy, and close.
Search Scenarios
A few anonymized examples of what proven bankers and teams
have done for the institutions we placed them with.
Boosting Core Deposits & NIM
Deposit Group Lift-Outs
We placed multiple deposit acquisition groups for a regional bank's private banking division, driving substantial first-year core deposit growth with roughly 50% of new deposits in DDA balances, and positioning the bank for continued low-cost growth and improved net interest margin.
C&I Growth
Commercial Lending Team
We placed a three-person team for a community bank rebalancing away from a heavy investment-CRE and multifamily concentration toward C&I and owner-occupied CRE. About a year later, the team had beaten its first-year origination goal and more than doubled its low-cost deposit target, with a pipeline pointing higher for year two.
Market Leadership Succession
Market President
We placed a highly regarded team leader as Market President for a regional bank, succeeding a retiring long-tenured executive, and bringing two decades of experience leading commercial lending teams at money center and super regional banks. Under his leadership the team improved loan growth, credit quality, and retention, and he later recruited the top two producers from his prior institution.
Launching a New Market Presence
Middle Market Team Lift-Out
We executed a team lift-out from a money center bank for a regional client, launching a loan production office in a new market. The long-tenured, five-person Middle Market team and its Regional Executive joined our client, and by the two-year mark had surpassed the goals of its three-year business plan in both loans and deposits.
Expanding Non-Interest Income
Launching an SBA Division
We placed an SBA 7(a) manager who spearheaded the launch of a community bank's SBA division, driving a substantial increase in non-interest income within nine months through secondary-market sales of guaranteed loan portions. Within a year we added two experienced BDOs to grow 7(a) volume.
Growing Business Operating Accounts
Deposit-Focused Leader
We placed a deposit-focused business banking leader at a family-owned community bank, producing a 20% increase in local business accounts within a year while deepening the bank's community relationships.
Executive Leadership
While commercial banking production remains our primary specialty, we also take on select leadership searches for community and regional banks.
Executive Placements
Entering a New Market
Market entry is its own kind of search. The timeline is set by a board rather than a vacancy, and the people worth hiring are not looking. We keep a confidential registry for banks considering entry into a market where they have no presence today.