Smith & Wilkinson Retained by DRBank for CEO Search

January 27, 2021 – Scarborough, ME-based recruitment firm Smith & Wilkinson has been selected to help find a president and CEO for DRBank in Darien, Conn. Partner and practice director for financial services Cameron Boyd is leading the assignment.

According to the search firm, this unique leadership role will provide an environment for an entrepreneurial executive to collaborate with an accomplished team to create innovative financial services technology and business lines as well to lead a community bank offering traditional consumer and commercial banking products and services.

Under the guidance and support of the bank’s chairman and founder and its board of directors, the president and CEO will be responsible for the overall leadership of this franchise. In addition to leading and motivating the bank’s team, the leader will be expected to play a key role in both considering and vetting strategies put forward by the bank’s current leadership, as well as bringing forward new and creative strategies.

DRBank is seeking a financial services and technology leader with vision and a proven track record of launching dynamic and innovative products and business lines. “The successful candidate will be a leader with character, integrity, and intelligence,” the search firm said.

Since its founding as a de novo bank in 2006, DRBank has evolved into a financial services company that is both a Connecticut-based community bank as well as a forward-looking financial technology platform. Today, DRBank is an approximately $450 million, Connecticut chartered and FDIC-insured community bank with branches in Darien and Rowayton.

Serving the Banking Industry

Smith & Wilkinson, founded in 1998, focuses on the banking industry. Its specialties include credit unions, non-profits and associations, insurance, wealth management, finance and accounting, human resources, information technology, healthcare management, physicians, retail and manufacturing, and engineering.

Mr. Boyd serves community and regional banks, associations, credit unions and CUSOs, investment and wealth management firms, and payments and fintech companies nationally. As practice director, he is responsible for the management and strategic growth of the practice, including oversight of key client and candidate relationships, expansion initiatives, and thought leadership. Mr. Boyd is also actively involved in search and talent acquisition on behalf of his customer base; in addition to conducting numerous CEO searches, he has completed searches in the areas of commercial, consumer, and residential lending, retail banking, technology, credit, risk, audit, compliance, operations, finance and accounting and wealth management.

Searching for Bank Leaders

Financial services organizations, generally, are facing a new competitive landscape, regulatory challenges and a constant struggle to manage cost and efficiency. This requires strategic leaders with a multidimensional skill-set. Like all financial institutions, banks continue to turn to executive recruitment firms to find new leaders.

Here’s a sampling of some important searches that are either underway or recently completed taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media Archives:

Rich Perkey and Jeremy Zeman of Caldwell recently assisted CrossFirst Bankshares based in Leawood, KS in the placement of Mike Maddox as its new president and CEO. His successor, George F. Jones, will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors through 2021 and will serve as vice chairman. CrossFirst Bankshares Inc. is a Kansas corporation and a registered bank holding company for its wholly-owned subsidiary CrossFirst Bank, which is headquartered in Leawood, KS. CrossFirst Bank has seven full-service banking offices primarily along the I-35 corridor in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Irvine, CA-based search firm McDermott + Bull has placed Sean Foley as the chief banking officer of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp, the holding company of Pacific Mercantile Bank, a wholly owned banking subsidiary. The assignment was led by president Brandon Biegenzahn and vice president Michelle Davis. Pacific Mercantile Bank is a full-service business bank with more than $1.3 billion in assets serving Southern California. It is listed as a member of the Russell 2000 Index. The bank is headquartered in Orange County and has seven locations in Southern California, in Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

Kaplan Partners, which specializes in conducting searches for C-level executives primarily in the financial services, corporate financial, private investor and technology sectors, has placed Carolyn Powell as CHRO for Provident Bank. Provident Bank, a community-oriented financial institution, is the wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc., which reported assets of $9.81 billion. With $7.10 billion in deposits, Provident Bank provides a comprehensive suite of financial products and services through its network of branches throughout northern and central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.