40 Under 40: 2026's Community Bank Leaders

Edited by Allie Johnson and Ben Wagner

Financial education advocates

Financial literacy for all

Financial literacy is an essential life skill, and community banks are well positioned to teach it. These 40 Under 40 honorees are providing next-level education for their customers and communities through multiple channels, from classrooms and digital tools to community partnerships. By Judith Sears

As a community banker, David Greenwell, CEO of $430 million-asset Town & Country Bank and Trust Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky, believes in the power of financial literacy. “We have an obligation to promote positive, lasting change and proactively educate customers and the community,” he says.

Working with civic organizations amplifies outreach, allowing community banks to deliver financial education in ways that are practical and accessible. Andrew Whalen, market president for $2.7 billion-asset Planters Bank in Indianola, Mississippi, has previously chaired the Mississippi Bankers Association program “A Banker in Every Classroom,” which has reached more than 100,000 K-12 students in the state. Planters Bank has also partnered with the Junior Auxiliary of Cleveland to provide financial literacy lessons. 

In Swansea, Massachusetts, $2.9 billion-asset BayCoast Bank hosts Credit for Life Fairs in partnership with local schools. Casey Brouthers, senior vice president, chief risk officer and general counsel, is a frequent volunteer at the fairs, which expose students to real-world finances, budgeting and situations like unexpected expenses.

Brouthers, who also advocates tirelessly for community-bank friendly policies in conferences and meetings in Washington, D.C., and participates in local initiatives to reduce homelessness, is committed to joining forces with other organizations to promote financial literacy. 

“Financial education programs help individuals and families improve their financial wellness by strengthening their relationship with money,” she says.

At Town & Country Bank, Greenwell quickly recognized that working with many organizations through multiple channels was the best way to help communities to navigate an increasingly complex financial landscape, including financial fraud and scams. 

“We have partnered with local churches, and we host periodic presentations at the public library,” he says. “We worked with the local newspaper to raise awareness as well.”

Fostering engagement

Audience engagement is what turns a classroom exercise into lasting behavior change. That’s why these community bankers are finding creative ways to make financial literacy interactive and relevant. 

When partnering with the Junior Auxiliary of Cleveland, Planters Bank uses role-playing exercises that give students a budget and a ledger to track their spending. The students purchase either necessities or non-essential items from different booths. 

“We conclude the program by reviewing ledgers and discussing needs versus wants and saving for the future,” says Whalen. “The teachers and school counselors really love the practical application.” 

Sympathizing and relating with customers invites engagement. Greenwell goes out of his way in presentations to emphasize that Town & Country Bank is there to help when customers run into problems. 

“Falling for a scam can be embarrassing, and we want to ensure that they have someone they can talk it through with,” he says.

BayCoast Bank has built fun and education into one of its products, the RightStart Account. Designed for children ages 6 to 17, the RightStart account offers them their own debit card and access to mobile and online banking. The program features an integrated rewards system, Learn2Earn Rewards, that children gain by completing age-appropriate financial literacy lessons. Parents have complete oversight and control of the program.

“We’ve received great feedback regarding the product’s functionality and financial education,” says Brouthers. 

These community bank leaders believe changes at the individual and domestic level can transform the wider community. Whalen emphasizes the broader impact of a better educated community. 

“When we equip individuals and families with the tools they need to build better lives,” he says, “we ensure a brighter, more prosperous future for everyone.”

Community engagement

Going above and beyond the bank

These exceptional bankers have a strong commitment to serving and supporting their local communities through financial solutions, volunteer work and community development initiatives.

Professional development

Leading by example

Nurturing talent is key to employee retention, resiliency and growth. These leaders are continuously learning—and committed to helping their teams do the same. By Roshan McArthur

In February 2025, Meghan Eckel was appointed assistant lending compliance and CRA officer at Fulton Savings Bank in Fulton, New York. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a moment of celebration. The leader of her division and her immediate boss, Julie Mazzoli, had just been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and needed to step away immediately for treatment. 

Eckel understood the urgency of the situation and jumped headfirst into her new role. She acquired eight required certifications within months, all amid the final stages of Fulton Savings Bank’s FDIC safety and soundness examination and seven mortgage lending audits.

She admits that stepping into the shoes of Mazzoli, who had been with the $488 million-asset bank for 35 years, was intimidating, but it was also something she felt prepared to do, given the community bank’s commitment to training and professional development. 

“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” says Eckel. “We didn’t know if she was coming back. So, I just stepped up, because there was nobody else that knew everything. Even at that time, I didn’t know everything that she did. But my ears were always open, [I was willing to help with anything going on in the department,] and just being part of this bank for 15 years, I knew the basics.”

Sadly, in October of that year, Mazzoli passed away. “That was another reality—that she was not coming back,” Eckel says. “We had to go through that as a team. We had to grow together and work through it together. Her personality was so strong. When I came to the loan department, she said, ‘Learn as much as you want, take courses, take webinars, but just know your job [and ask questions].’”

Eckel, now vice president, is constantly learning, not least to keep up with changing regulations. She’s also encouraging her team to do the same. She says her colleagues know their jobs very well and are all well cross-trained and ready to take over when she herself steps away from her position for a few months in the fall. 

This time, however, the departure is cause for celebration: the birth of her second child. “I don’t want only one person taking over everything I do, because I do quite a bit,” she laughs. “I’ve been training different staff members, so I can trust who I’m giving my job duties to, and I won’t have a fear of coming back to a mess!”

Helping leaders evolve

“Growth can come from many places,” says Karla Berry, branch manager and vice president at $780 million-asset First Option Bank in Osawatomie, Kansas. “Podcasts, peer learning, mentorship and conferences—each of these has played a meaningful role in shaping me both personally and professionally.”

That’s something Berry also shares with her team. “Modeling a continuous learning mindset and being transparent about ongoing growth in leadership or managerial roles is essential,” she says. “Creating this kind of environment helps my team feel supported, encourages development and builds trust.”

Berry also helped set up an internal development initiative called the Leadership Academy, which began this year. The yearlong program offers two distinct tracks: leadership foundations and enterprise leadership. 

“Too often, development efforts focus primarily on entry-level staff, while opportunities for leaders, along with succession planning and ongoing professional growth, are overlooked,” Berry says. “The academy was designed to address that gap by investing in individuals currently in leadership roles or identified as emerging leaders.”

Upon acceptance, participants attend four quarterly, half-day, in-person courses. They’re primarily led by internal subject-matter experts, reinforcing enterprise knowledge and leadership credibility. Groups are kept small to encourage discussion and relationship building.

“As a result of these types of initiatives, we [anticipate] increased employee engagement, confidence and empowerment; stronger employee retention; improved customer service and overall employee experience; greater branch consistency; and measurable gains in net promoter score,” says Berry.

Encouraging women leaders

In 2024, Kailey Boraas, VP trust officer at the West Fargo, North Dakota, branch of First Western Bank & Trust, cofounded the annual First Western Women in Leadership Program. Designed for women across the $2.2 billion-asset bank’s entire footprint, it’s open to all but capped at 15 women per year. 

“My goal in this program is to support leaders of every background and style and to help build an environment where everyone feels empowered to grow, contribute and lead with confidence,” says Boraas. Each year, groups meet for two days to explore aspects of effective leadership. “It has become a valuable space for leaders at all levels to ... invest in their own growth and bring fresh ideas back to their local teams.”

The First Western Women in Leadership Program covers topics like imposter syndrome, leading from any level and what it means to become a leader worth following. 

“We also spend time uncovering our own strengths and weaknesses and exploring how to put them into practice,” Boraas says. 

Although the program only held its first session in spring of 2025, Boraas is already seeing big gains at First Western Bank & Trust. “I’ve seen our training efforts translate into noticeably higher individual confidence, with team members feeling more capable and empowered in their roles,” she says. “It’s also strengthened the trust within our group, creating a more supportive and collaborative team dynamic—and it’s so fun.”

Technology advocacy

Adopting—and adapting to—new technology

Technology projects like core conversions and AI initiatives need the stewardship of engaged and collaborative
leaders to succeed. These 40 Under 40 honorees have been instrumental in leveling up the technical capabilities
of their community banks. By Mindy Charski

Q: How do you handle hesitancies stakeholders may have about implementing and using new technology?

Ashton Sandifer: By listening to everyone and being very empathetic. I don’t think you should only discuss things with your executive management—I think the frontline staff needs to be just as much involved. The more you can keep them involved, I won’t say it’s easy, but I just think it works better.

Luke Reiter: When we talk about our annual budget, our growth initiatives, our strategic plan for the year and even for the next three to five years, where are we going and how will we achieve that? There are a couple ways, one of which is ramping up our staff and our production in the various areas to meet it, and the other is to try to leverage technology where we can. Tech becomes an easier sell when you can present it in that way and then also show a success [from an existing investment]. 

Q: Can you speak to the importance of balancing technology innovation with maintaining and growing relationships with customers? 

Cody Appell: We have an older demographic that’s used to banking “the old way.” But then we’ve got new customers, and if we want to retain new customers, we have to be able to adapt. Going back to the “old guard,” some of them use the mobile app. They love the mobile app, but they don’t always remember their login. But they know they can call and they can specifically ask for me, and that’s the personal touch. 

Reiter: Technology cannot replace the human relationships—in fact, I think the majority of our customers would be banking with a large bank if they were more concerned and focused on having the most tech-savvy application to use. We find a lot of our customer base works with us because we have that personal touch. We get them; we know them.

Q: How are you approaching AI?

Ian Kilby: Last year, we put into place a [generative] AI policy at the bank so that we had some initial sort of guardrails in place for us to start exploring [Microsoft] Copilot. We established a Copilot testing group that was spearheaded by myself but had many different representatives of other areas in the bank—IT, lending, finance—so we could get a grasp of what it can do. 

We’ve developed a few tools that have helped different areas of the bank. It’s been more heavily on the compliance side, but also vendor management and some other due diligence. Now we’re at a point where we’ve created agents and we’re ready to roll out those agents bankwide. We want to start exploring beyond Copilot. We’ve seen some really amazing functionality from Claude, ChatGPT and [Google] Gemini.  

Reiter: For us, the starting place was to develop our strategy around AI and develop a committee that can form around it so we can go about this as pragmatic as you can while also feeling somewhat rushed. We have an enterprise ChatGPT account, [and] our employees need to complete training [and] acknowledge acceptable use specific to AI [before] they’re allowed to have access … Sometimes the best ideas come from your wire processor of how they can create some automation in their flow, or from a closer on the mortgage department side that says, “Hey, we frequently have these questions that come up. We can build a [chatbot] around it to answer that for the rest of the folks,” and they spearhead that mission.

Q: What advice can you share about hiring technology partners?

Kilby: I would never recommend being the first in when it comes to a vendor. Be a fast follower, but don’t let yourself be the test case, just so you know [the tech’s] been proven and the vendor is capable of delivering what they promise. Beyond that, I think just all the data security pieces—making sure that’s in place.

Sandifer: Reach out to others. I’m a member of several [online] user groups, and it’s really nice, especially if you’re a member of a user group that uses the same products you use, core platforms and things like that. Getting some honest reviews is very nice. 

Q: Can anyone at a bank become a technology advocate?

Appell: I’m kind of living proof that anybody can be [a tech advocate], because I don’t have a background in technology. Obviously, technology does continue to grow within a business, and you just have to teach people to not be afraid of it, embrace what it is and to learn whatever it is you’re using.

Efficiency experts

All eyes on efficiency

These innovative leaders have evaluated and improved processes at their banks to increase efficiency through employee training, customer onboarding, loan underwriting, technology and more.

Customer Service Stars

A people-first approach to banking

These 40 Under 40 honorees were recognized for their commitment to building strong relationships with customers in the way only community bankers can.

Congratulations to ICBA’s 40 Under 40: Community Bank Leaders for 2026!

FIS is thrilled to celebrate the outstanding achievements of this year’s ICBA 40 Under 40 Community Bank Leaders. Your visionary leadership, commitment to innovation and dedication to your communities is shaping the future of community banking.

Community banks are the heartbeat of local economies, and this recognition is a testament to your unwavering leadership to advance the mission of community banks. We’re proud to honor all the ICBA 40 under 40 award recipients for your commitment to new technologies, employee engagement, and customer education within community banking. 

At FIS, we share your passion for delivering excellence in community banking. For more than 50 years, we’ve worked to empower financial institutions by harnessing cutting-edge technology and deep financial expertise. We believe that when community banks have the right tools, they can create seamless, secure, and innovative experiences that delight their customers while fostering growth and trust.

Here’s how we’re committed to supporting community bankers like you:

• Comprehensive solutions that address everything from compliance and analytics to core banking and payment processing.
• Secure, scalable technology designed to ensure smooth and safe operations as your institution expands.
• Innovative customer experience tools that help you meet the rising expectations of you customers.
• Actionable insights powered by advanced analytics, enabling data-driven decisions to enhance efficiency and uncover new opportunities.
• Dedicated partnerships built on collaboration, with personalized guidance to support long-term success.

As we celebrate the exceptional leaders recognized through ICBA’s 40 Under 40 awards, FIS is honored to partner with you and stands ready to help shape the future of community banking through technology and innovation. Our solutions empower you to serve your customers better, faster, and more securely—all while equipping your employees with the tools and resources they need to excel and enjoy a fulfilling workplace experience.

Congratulations on this well-earned recognition—you are not only shaping the future of community banking; you’re redefining what it means to be a great place to work.

Connect with FIS to explore how we can partner with you to shape the future of community banking. fisglobal.com

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