Insights

Research from the people doing the work.

White papers, interview series, and points of view built the way we build everything else: from primary evidence, checked against named sources, and written for the executives who have to act on it.

01White papers

The current release

Feeder roles to bank President and COO

29%

Came from the CBO seat

White paper · Banking · August 2026

The Seat That Runs the Bank

The subject

The history and future of the Chief Banking Officer in mid-market banking: where the seat came from, what it was built to do for the business, and the fork it now faces.

The evidence

Built on succession research across Russell 3000 banks, FDIC structural data, and the moves 5 banks made in 7 months of 2026. Every claim carries a named source.

The series

The companion to the CBO Series, an interview project with sitting Chief Banking Officers. By Scott Ostroff, Director.

Read the paper

02The CBO Series

A listening project with the people in the seat.

What it is

Structured conversations with sitting Chief Banking Officers at mid-market banks: 45 minutes on the role, the pressures on it, and where it goes over the next 1 to 3 years. Published as a series of articles.

The ground rules

Not for attribution by default. Insights are aggregated and anonymized, named quotes appear only with approval, and contributors see each synthesis before the rest of the industry does. Nobody who takes part is sold anything.

Why we run it

We believe the next decade of mid-market bank performance will be decided in this seat, and that the people in it understand it better than anyone writing about it. So we ask them, publish what we learn, and give the answers back.

Hold the seat, or a seat like it under another name? The series wants your view, especially where it contradicts the paper.

03Put it to work

Research is how we think. Delivery is what we do. When a paper raises the right question for your business, we can help you answer it.

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