Bank C-Suite Summit

The rate includes all conference activities, materials, meals and beverages at the event site. The price does not include travel or hotel accommodations.

Registration Rates:
Early Individual Rate: $2,195 (Expires December 18, 2026)
Standard Individual Rate: $2,495
Standard Group Rate: $2,295 (For groups of 2 or more from the same financial institution)
*This fee applies to attendees who are officers or directors of an FDIC-insured financial institution. This does not apply to investment bankers, attorneys, accounting firms, and other vendors and service providers.

Pre-Summit Workshops (Select one to attend):
Leading Forward: Building a Leadership Pipeline For The Future: $995
Strengthening Your Bank’s Balance Sheet: $995
Strategic Plan Design: $995
Growth – M&A and Organic Expansion: $995
Building a Practical AI & Technology Roadmap for Community Banks: $995

Guest Rate: $250
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.

Membership Program Conference Rates
If your bank is a participating program member, please contact 877-397-7595 to find out about special conference rates and/or event passes that may be available to you and your board. For questions or to find out more about Bank Director’s membership program, please email [email protected].

About the JW Marriott Chicago
Escape from the everyday at JW Marriott Chicago, a landmark luxury hotel in downtown Chicago, brimming with history. Take advantage of the central location on Chicago’s famous Loop near Union Station, West Loop restaurants, the Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and Soldier Field. Bursting with luxury hotel amenities 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 Chicago West Loop hotel 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 April 5, 2027 or until all rooms are reserved. To reserve a room, click here or contact the hotel directly at 312-660-8200 and mention “Bank Director” to receive the discounted rate of $334/night for a standard room. Rooms are limited, so please book early!

Payments & Cancellation
Conference registration fees include admittance to all conference activities and access to the conference materials. Payment will be accepted by check, American Express, Visa, MasterCard or Discover. If paying by check, please make payable to DirectorCorps, Inc. and include the attendee’s name(s) and/or a copy of the registration form and mail to:

Conferences
Bank Director
201 Summit View Drive, Suite 250
Brentwood, TN 37027

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 welcomed. DirectorCorps, Inc. assumes no liability for any nonrefundable travel, hotel or related expenses incurred by registrants. Download and review our event’s code of conduct.

For more information regarding registration, refunds, concerns and/or program cancellation policies, please contact our events department at 877-397-7595 or [email protected].

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
Speaker to be Announced, Elliott Davis Advisory, LLC
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.

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
Courtney Theis, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Bank Director
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.

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.

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
Joseph Ceithaml, Partner & Co-Chair of Financial Institutions Group, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP
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 due diligence to uncover both risks and opportunities and understand the integration challenges that determine whether a transaction creates or destroys value. The session also highlights common M&A pitfalls and offers 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
Speaker to be Announced, Lumin Digital, Inc.
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
Speaker to be Announced, Elliott Davis Advisory, LLC
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.

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.

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 312-660-8200 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 [email protected].