Rhinebeck Bank President and CEO Matthew Smith joins Travillian Next for a candid conversation about leading a 160-year-old community bank into its next chapter. Six months into the role at the $1.3 billion publicly traded bank in Poughkeepsie, New York, Matt shares how he is thinking about balancing 1950s-style community service with 2026 technology, building a culture of diversity of thought, and setting the strategic direction for the next 3 to 5 years.

Matt brings a tech-forward background from Sterling, Webster, and the world of banking as a service into a traditional community bank, and the conversation is one other CEOs and boards should be paying attention to. It covers the opportunity cost of standing still, open architecture and the fast follower strategy, how Rhinebeck is competing against megabanks, fintechs, and big-box retailers all at once, and the talent profile community banks need to hire for now: experience design, enterprise architecture, payments innovation, data science, and AI fluency.

Matt also walks through Rhinebeck's second step conversion, what it unlocks for capital and M&A, and offers direct advice for aspiring community bank CEOs and the boards thinking about hiring them. Whether you lead a bank, sit on a board, or are building your career toward the C-suite, this is a practical conversation about the new wave of community banking leadership.