Travillian Next

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.

In this Part 2, on-location episode of Travillian Next, host Amber Buker (Chief Research Officer at Travillian) sits down with Heather Luck, EVP & Chief Financial Officer at Five Star Bank, for a candid, documentary-style conversation filmed inside the bank itself.

Heather opens up about the financial discipline behind one of the country's fastest-growing community banks. She walks through how Five Star manages its outsized CRE concentrations with granular monitoring, why cost of funds came down while reshaping the deposit base, and how the team sustains an efficiency ratio in the low 40s while investing heavily in people, technology, and new markets.

A must-listen for community bank CFOs, controllers, board members, and anyone curious about what it takes to run the financial engine of an opportunistic, high-performing community bank.

Filmed in collaboration with John Maxfield of Maxfield on Banks.

In this special, on-location episode of Travillian Next, host Amber Buker (Chief Research Officer at Travillian) sits down with Michael Rizzo, EVP & Chief Banking Officer at Five Star Bank, for a candid, documentary-style conversation filmed inside the bank itself.

Michael only half-jokingly calls Five Star "a sales organization masquerading as a bank," and that mindset runs through everything they unpack. He shares the origin story of how a single referral became a national mobile home park lending platform. He walks through Five Star's playbook for spotting opportunistic verticals, like the recent Orange County title-and-escrow build-out. And he opens up about what it takes to protect a flat, "never-quit" culture as the bank scales past 300 employees.

A must-listen for community bank executives, board members, and anyone curious about how a high-performing community bank actually operates.

Filmed in collaboration with John Maxfield of Maxfield on Banks.

Most banks want the casino loan. Few understand the full scope of what tribal banking actually looks like, and what it takes to do it right.

In this episode of Travillian Next, host Amber Buker, Chief Research Officer at Travillian, sits down with Mike Lettig, Senior Managing Director and Group Head of Native American Financial Services at Huntington Bank, and Jackson Brossy, Vice President of Native American Financial Services at Huntington Bank, for an in-depth conversation on Native American banking, tribal sovereignty, and the growing opportunity in Indian Country that most financial institutions are overlooking.

Mike and Jackson cover how Huntington built a fully integrated Native American Financial Services practice, why Indian Country is one of the safest places in the private sector to do business, and how tribal sovereignty works in practice when structuring deals, including a landmark unsecured credit facility completed entirely under Navajo law. Jackson also breaks down the $26 billion federal contracting sector, why tribes and Alaska Native corporations are uniquely positioned to access it, and why every financial institution should be paying attention.

Whether you are a banker exploring tribal markets for the first time or a financial professional looking to deepen your understanding of Indigenous economic development, this conversation is a must-listen.

What does it take to build a $9 billion community bank and stay independent doing it? Joe Dively, Chairman and CEO of First Mid Bank & Trust, breaks down the M&A strategy, leadership philosophy, and culture-first approach behind one of the Midwest's most extraordinary community banking stories — including a dividend streak dating back to 1879, eight acquisitions built on decade-long relationships, and a succession plan built around one of the youngest executive teams in the industry.

Scott Hildenbrand, Head of Depository Fixed Income at Piper Sandler, joins Travillian Next for a conversation on balance sheet strategy and the forces shaping banking in 2026.

In this episode, Travillian’s Brian Love and Andrew Liesch sit down with Hildenbrand to discuss what he’s hearing in bank boardrooms across the country. From the disconnect between bank earnings and valuations to execution strategies in a volatile interest rate environment, the conversation explores how financial institutions are thinking about balance sheet management, leadership decisions, and long-term growth.

The discussion also covers talent dynamics in the M&A landscape, the rise of niche banking strategies, and how regulatory expectations are influencing liquidity and capital decisions for banks today.

If you’re a bank CEO, board member, executive, or industry professional looking to better understand balance sheet strategy and the challenges facing community banks, this episode offers a candid perspective from one of the most active voices advising financial institutions today.

Community banks widely recognize the value of diversity in the boardroom, yet many institutions still rely on the same limited recruiting networks when searching for new directors. On the latest episode of Travillian Next, Amber Buker, Chief Research Officer at Travillian, sits down with Jennifer Docherty, Senior FIG & Capital Markets Strategist at Performance Trust Capital Partners and Co-Founder of Bank on Women, to unpack why boardrooms remain so homogenous and what banks can do differently.Jennifer explains the structural dynamics that shape how directors are recruited and why meaningful performance gains begin to appear once boards reach a “critical mass” of women. The conversation also explores how community banks can modernize board succession planning, build stronger leadership pipelines, and expand their candidate pools through sponsorship and organizations like Bank on Women. Together, they outline practical steps banks can take to strengthen governance while positioning themselves for the next generation of leadership.

Community banks are rethinking compensation as competition for top producers intensifies. In this episode of Travillian Next, Brian Love of Travillian and incentive strategist Mike Higgins discuss how banks are moving beyond subjective year-end bonus structures and toward performance-driven incentive plans. They explore the “Bank of One” model, the importance of linking pay to profitability, and why modern compensation strategy is becoming a critical competitive advantage in community banking.

Keith Daly, Principal of Banking & Fintech Search at Travillian, sits down with Chuck Nabhan, Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stephens, to unpack fintech valuations, AI disruption, and the regulatory “moat” protecting core banking technology. Drawing on nearly two decades of equity research, Nabhan breaks down why AI hype is distorting fintech valuations, which parts of the tech stack are truly vulnerable, and where durable business models still exist. The conversation also highlights modernization priorities for community banks, including digital account opening, fraud prevention, and profitable growth in a post-euphoria market.

Dimitar Karaivanov, President & CEO of Community Bank System, and C.K. Lee, President & CEO of InterBank, discuss how Wall Street experience translates into community banking leadership.As community banks face rising complexity, tighter margins, and heightened expectations from boards and regulators, leadership backgrounds are evolving. Karaivanov and Lee share how bank strategy, talent decisions, capital discipline, and long-term accountability shift when executives move from advising on transactions to executing inside the institution.Hosted by Brian Love, Head of Banking & Fintech Search at Travillian, and Andrew Liesch, Head of Bank Strategy.