Education & Events

Board Responsibilities - Fiduciary Duties, Expectations, and Management Oversight
John Geiringer, Partner, and Rob Fleetwood, Group Co-Chair & Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Financial Institutions Group

This introduction session will describe the general expectations and duties of an effective board of directors. We will highlight directors’ legal responsibilities and duties owed to shareholders, the expectations that regulators have toward directors, and how boards can effectively oversee management. We also will discuss how these duties and expectations interact with director’s legal liability and exposure, and how a board can help mitigate those risks.

Evolving BSA/AML Risk
Brian Crow, Managing Partner/Co-President, TCA Compliance

Although the current administration has promised deregulation in some areas, in the Bank Secrecy Act we’ve seen a mixed bag of reduced regulation in some areas and increased regulation in others. Add in changing technology with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, and we have a recipe for risk. In this session, we will navigate the uncertain waters and aid you in ensuring your institution charts a course for success.

Examination and Enforcement Actions
John Geiringer, Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Financial Institutions Group

This session will cover how federal and state banking regulators conduct examinations, identify deficiencies, and determine appropriate supervisory responses. It also will address the supervisory enforcement toolkit, including both informal and formal actions, along with practical strategies for responding to examiner findings.

Cybersecurity in the Boardroom: Hot Topics, Hard Questions, and What Examiners Expect in 2026
Ben LeClaire, Principal, Management Consulting, Plante Moran

Cybersecurity oversight has moved squarely into the boardroom, and community bank directors are being asked to demonstrate credible governance over an increasingly complex risk landscape. This session cuts through the noise to focus on what senior management and boards actually need to know right now. We will walk through the top cyber themes shaping community banking in 2026, including third party and vendor concentration risk, ransomware and incident readiness, patch and vulnerability management, and the shifting examiner focus following the retirement of the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool. Directors will leave with a practical set of questions to bring to their CIO, CISO, internal audit team, and examiners, along with a clearer view of the reporting and evidence they should be seeing at every board meeting. The goal is confident, informed oversight without needing to become a technologist.

Balance Sheet Management & Regulatory Issues
Matt Miller, Executive Vice President, FinPro, Inc.

Balance sheet management is changing quickly in today's fast-paced regulatory and banking environment. This presentation will discuss:

• Insuring excess deposits at Community Banks through CBIA and the Alliance
• Implementing time series liquidity
• Adding FHLB capacity to LCR calculations
• Optimizing collateral pledging and utilization, and
• Changing regulatory environment around funding

M&A, Capital Raising, and Corporate Strategy for Community and Regional Banks
John Geiringer, Partner, and Rob Fleetwood, Group Co-Chair & Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Financial Institutions Group

This session will provide a timely briefing on the current state of bank M&A, active capital-raising transactions—equity, subordinated debt, and private capital—and the strategic pressures forcing directors to decide whether their institution should grow, merge, or shrink.