Emily McCormick
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financial services, banking, financial regulation, technology, financial technology, u.s. banking, financial industry research, banks
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VP of Editorial & Research @BankDirector
Opinions + comments are my own
linkedin.com/in/ehmccormick
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Articles by Emily McCormick
AI Oversight Starts With Strategy and Risk
Bank leaders share how boards can strengthen their oversight of artificial intelligence through committees and enhanced reporting. When $317 million Decatur County Bank got serious about AI earlier this year, CEO Kirk Goehring knew he had to get his board up to speed. That meant creating a quarterly report that could better inform directors who weren’t tech-savvy. “The first one we sent [described], ‘What are we doing with AI? How are we using it? And why do we think it’s safe?’” says Goehring.
How to Reinvent the Board
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
4th Quarter 2026
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or . Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
Local Decision-Making Powers SouthState
Over lunch several years ago, David Brooks received some advice about selling his bank from a large bank’s CEO. “He said, ‘David, because of where you are, the market you’re in, you will have a lot of people who want to buy you,’” Brooks recalls. At the time, Brooks was CEO of Independent Bank Group in McKinney, Texas, which he founded in 1988. “‘Remember, at the end of the day, when you sell your company for stock, all you’ve done is trade stock.
Understanding Your Bank’s Financial Metrics
Bank Director’s latest guide provides a glossary of key performance ratios and offers questions for board members to ask about the institution’s condition. Boards can expect to review a number of metrics to assess the financial condition of their bank and holding company, particularly ratios that describe profitability and expenses, credit quality, capital adequacy and liquidity. Those ratios can help drive critical conversations around strategic planning and the evaluation of the CEO.
2026 Governance Best Practices Survey: M&A, Artificial Intelligence Drive Boardroom Change
The merger activity that kicked off in 2025 is impacting bank boardrooms, as the skills populating those seats adapt to an evolving environment. A majority of the CEOs and directors responding to Bank Director’s 2026 Governance Best Practices Survey, sponsored by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, report a moderate level of change in board composition since January 2023, with most (56%) adding one or two directors. New directors can add valuable perspectives to the boardroom.
When the Holding Company Isn’t a Source of Strength
Decisions made for the holding company have the potential to imperil its bank subsidiary, which can complicate decision-making for the board. While banks aren’t required to be held by a holding company, many find the structure beneficial as a means to raise capital, which is then funneled down to the bank. Within that structure, the holding company is expected to be a source of strength that supports the safety and soundness of the institution.
250 Years Later: How America Got Its Banks
*This article appears in the third quarter 2026 issue of Bank Director magazine. You can subscribe here. There were no banks in the U.S. when shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, marking the start of the Revolutionary War. That quickly changed as the Founding Fathers formed a new nation, and political battles over its banking system became a fundamental part of the American story.
3rd Quarter 2026
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or [email protected]. Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
Two Veteran Directors Explain How Boards Can Bolster the Bank’s Cultural Immune System
Kevin Ahern thinks of culture as an immune system that’s critical to a bank’s health. “It keeps the people you want to keep in the organization [and] the customers you want,” he told Emily McCormick, Bank Director’s vice president of editorial and research, in a recent webinar. “It also keeps the people you don’t want out.” Ahern serves on several bank boards, including $6.6 billion Horizon Bancorp in Michigan City, Indiana.
What Boards Should Know About the Regulatory Reset
Supervision has moved away from process and toward material risks. Here’s how boards can keep compliance on track. There’s been a marked shift in the supervisory environment, with recent rulemaking from the prudential regulators — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve — emphasizing material financial risks over more qualitative, subjective concerns.
Global Uncertainty Has Banks Revisiting Strategy
Rae-Ann Miller vividly remembers the last time the banking industry faced an uncertain environment. It was March 2023 and Miller, then a senior deputy director at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., took a call about Silicon Valley Bank. “I ran upstairs, and the rest was history,” said Miller, who today serves as chief risk officer at IntraFi and was speaking from the stage this week at Bank Director’s Bank C-Suite Summit in Nashville.
Could Private Credit Be the Source of the Next Crisis?
*This article appears in the second quarter 2026 issue of Bank Director magazine. You can subscribe here. When JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon announced $170 million in charge-offs last October due to the bankruptcy of a borrower engaged in subprime auto lending, he hinted at more to come. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but when you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” he said.
Environment Heats Up for Bank IPOs
After a quiet few years for bank IPOs, a favorable market for bank stocks has driven more activity — and the window remains open. Some of last year’s initial public offerings were driven by a backlog as banks awaited an ideal environment to go public, says John Roddy, cohead of financial services investment banking at Raymond James Financial. Five banks went public in 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
A Growing Financial Ecosystem
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
How to Spot Cultural Red Flags
Culture drives performance and execution, but that can be tough for boards to oversee. Here’s how directors can identify the warning signs of a bad company culture. When Jim McAlpin is in Philadelphia for a board meeting, it’s not unusual for him to visit a bank branch after the meeting wraps up. “I’ll walk around the branch, I’ll go get a cheesesteak with some of the senior lenders,” he says.
Tariffs, Labor Shortage Squeeze Farmers’ Already-Tight Margins
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
1st Quarter 2026
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or [email protected]. Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
Bank Director’s Most Popular Stories in 2025 Find Banks Focused on Opportunity
If anything stands out about banking in 2025, it’s likely the Trump administration’s rollback of bank regulation and supervision. Overall, many banks have been happy about the changes. Further, bank stocks have generally risen throughout the year, and the largest banks have reported strong earnings. That’s trickled down throughout the industry, with S&P Global Market Intelligence reporting $122.8 billion in pre-provision net revenue in the third quarter — the highest since at least 2012.
The Power of (Some) Friction
For Austin Capital Bank’s high-yield savings account, adding friction and slowing things down is by design. The account, announced in July, is called Fort Knox, named for the U.S. Gold Bullion Depository in Kentucky. “What we built with Fort Knox is a bank at the end of a one-way street with a vault,” says Erik Beguin, CEO and founder of Austin Capital Bank, the $485 million digital banking subsidiary of Austin, Texas-based Greenback Fincorp.
Banks Rethink DEI, ESG in the Face of Conservative Pressure
*This article appeared in the Q4 2025 issue of Bank Director magazine. You can subscribe here. When Robert Netzly formed Inspire Investing in 2015, he wanted to offer a “biblically responsible” investing option for clients. “Biblically responsible investing means applying scripture directly to what we do or don’t buy,” he says. “If we are stewards of God’s money according to our biblical beliefs, then what are we putting God’s money into?
Is ESG Dead?
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
4th Quarter 2025
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or [email protected]. Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
California Dreaming
In a June 2023 interview, Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom why so many residents were leaving the state for places like Florida. Newsom disputed the assertion. “Per capita, more Floridians move to California than Californians moving to Florida,” Newsom responded. Hannity’s question played into a broader narrative that the California economy has been struggling.
How One CEO Built a Team to Fix His Bank
Blue Ridge Bankshares in Richmond, Virginia, had good news for investors in July: The company was profitable for the first time since the first quarter 2023. The $2.6 billion bank has been under a consent order with its regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, since January 2024. The OCC identified several key deficiencies, including insufficient Bank Secrecy Act staffing and weak internal controls. CEO G. William Beale joined the bank in May 2023 to clean up the mess.
Castle Creek Capital® | August 22 2025
How One CEO Built a Team to Fix His Bank Blue Ridge Bankshares in Richmond, Virginia, had good news for investors in July: The company was profitable for the first time since the first quarter 2023. The $2.6 billion bank has been under a consent order with its regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, since January 2024. The OCC identified several key deficiencies, including insufficient Bank Secrecy Act staffing and weak internal controls. CEO G.
An Attorney Shares How Boards Help the Bank Stay Out of Trouble
Engaged deliberations and strong risk processes can help directors better oversee their institutions. When Robert Maddox enters a bank’s boardroom, it’s often because something went wrong. “Eighty-five percent of the board meetings I go into are because something’s gone wrong,” he says.
2025 Governance Best Practices Survey: Diverging on Strategy
Reviewing the strategic plan is an annual practice for most bank boards, according to 80% of the directors and CEOs responding to Bank Director’s 2025 Governance Best Practices Survey, sponsored by the law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. But the board’s engagement in setting their institution’s strategy varies widely — from active collaborators who drive the process and develop the plan with management (17%) to hands-off boards that are barely involved in strategic planning at all (3%).
All in the Family
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
3rd Quarter 2025
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or [email protected]. Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
How Two Sellers Crafted the Best Deal for Their Bank
On May 1, Kalispell, Montana-based Glacier Bancorp closed its acquisition of $1.3 billion Bank of Idaho Holding Co., a deal that was announced on Jan. 13. Recent deals like this one could signal better pricing for sellers in 2025. But it’s not just price that gets sellers to sign the dotted line.
Weathering Uncertainty: A Chief Risk Officer and Bank Advisor Speak Out
So far, 2025 has been characterized by economic uncertainty as tariffs threaten local economies. Interest rates remain elevated, which further complicates the picture for bank profitability and credit quality. Stress testing is a practice that, done well, can help banks prepare for the worst. To discuss this and other risks facing banks today, Bank Director Vice President of Editorial & Research Emily McCormick recently sat down with two risk experts.
2nd Quarter 2025
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or [email protected]. Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
After the Fires
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
What’s Driving Diversity in the Boardroom
In 1992, the cover of Bank Director magazine featured a large wooden door, barely ajar. A woman, dressed in a red suit, struggled to push it open. “Boardroom,” the door was labeled. “For Men Only.” At the time, women served as directors at 70% of roughly 14,000 U.S. banks, but fewer than 10% had more than one woman on the board, according to the article. Boards look different today.
If racism seems familiar, we need new eyes
Our family lived in the South, and I fell in love with it. The architecture, the green, the friendliness, the weather, the men's apparel (need I mention bow ties, boat shoes and seersucker?). And an air so heavy with moisture it wraps you like a blanket. For a woman from the desert, it was heaven. The home we rented during our four years in Richmond, Virginia, was six blocks west of one of the most beautiful tree- and mansion-lined streets I've ever seen - Monument Avenue.
Avoiding Surprises When Planning for Succession at a Family-Owned Bank
Star Bank CEO Katie Wahlquist shares recent succession challenges and how she thinks about keeping her bank in the family. In July 2024, Katie Wahlquist became CEO of Maple Lake, Minnesota-based Star Bank, a $462 million institution that had been owned and led by her father and predecessor, Harry Wahlquist, since 1990. But the promotion was bittersweet: Harry had passed away after fighting pancreatic cancer. Katie had been his caregiver.
Beyond AI: Tech Takeaways From Acquire or Be Acquired
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
A Guide to Understanding Your Bank’s Metrics
Bank boards can benefit from a deeper understanding of the metrics used to describe financial performance — and asking questions to dig deeper. This article includes a glossary of common metrics used by the industry. Bank boards have a critical responsibility to oversee the performance of their institutions.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Bank Boards
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
1st Quarter 2025
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or . Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
An Ex-Regulator Demystifies the Supervisory Process
Kathy Moe Lonowski, a former FDIC regional director who now serves on two bank boards, clarifies how directors can gain more from the regulatory relationship. Bank boards set all sorts of expectations for directors, from attendance and training to preparation for meetings. But fewer than half of the directors and CEOs responding to Bank Director’s 2024 Governance Best Practices Survey reported that their board sets expectations for engaging with regulators.
Braving the Bumps in Banking as a Service
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
4th Quarter 2024
From how-to articles, director training videos, key interviews with industry leaders and more, Bank Services provides bank executives and directors with the tools to help grow their financial institutions. To sign up for exclusive access to this online bank board resource, please contact Bank Services at 615-777-8461 or . Magazine Subscribers please enter your email and password below. BANK SERVICES members please login . If you would like to subscribe to our Magazine, click HERE.
What's New in Bank Board Governance?
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
Why Small Banks Dominate the Ranking
In 2025, Chris McComish expects his bank — $9.6 billion S&T Bancorp, headquartered outside Pittsburgh in Indiana, Pennsylvania — to cross over the $10 billion threshold. It’s an event McComish, S&T’s CEO, has been preparing for since taking the reins three years ago. “We run the company today like we’re a much bigger company,” he says. “I’m not doing my job if I’m not recognizing what the future looks like” and preparing for it.
2024 Governance Best Practices Survey: Exercising Independence
Can a dominant CEO or board member have a negative impact on their bank? In July 2023, Heartland Tri-State Bank closed after its CEO funneled $47.1 million out of the $139 million Kansas bank over a matter of weeks, according to prosecutors. Federal agents said that was the direct cause of the Elkhart bank’s insolvency, but the Federal Reserve’s Office of the Inspector General pointed to an underlying factor: Hanes’ excessive influence as the bank’s CEO and one of its larger shareholders.
Betting on the Right CEO
Bank M&A Bank M&A topics will include balance sheet considerations for both the acquiring and acquired financial institutions such as deposits, capital adequacy, credit quality and more. Information around regulatory preparations and concerns as well as credit risks will also be addressed. Explore
3rd Quarter 2024
Laura Alix Director of Research Laura Alix is the Director of Research at Bank Director, where she collaborates on in-depth strategic research for bank directors and senior executives, including Bank Director’s annual surveys. She also writes for BankDirector.com and edits online video content. Laura is particularly interested in workforce recruitment and retention strategies, and environmental, social and governance issues facing the banking industry.
Magazine Exclusive: The Efficiency Toolkit
Bank efficiency ratios worsened in 2023 due to rising costs and a challenging revenue environment. This complimentary article from the second quarter issue of Bank Director magazine looks at how some of the industry’s most efficient banks focus on enhancing productivity to drive their ratios lower. The following feature appears in the second quarter 2024 edition of Bank Director magazine.
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