Annual Conference

Breakout Sessions

Preparing for a Focus on Process and Efficiency
Brett Rawls, Profit Resources, Inc.
This session explores how banks can streamline loan and deposit operations to better support lenders, customer-facing teams, and customers. Learn how customer journey maps can uncover process gaps and opportunities for improvement. Discover strategies to redesign staff roles and workflows for stronger service and greater efficiency. You’ll also learn why meaningful metrics are essential to improving performance and profitability.

Key Takeaways: Understand how to streamline and optimize internal processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

• Customer Journey Maps as a discovery tool.
• Discover strategies to restructure staff roles and workflows for optimal customer service.
• Learn why metrics matter.

Reciprocal Deposits as a Growth Engine: Lower-Cost, Bank-Driven Solutions for a Deposit Market
Tony Karalekas, NBID, LLC 
This session examines how reciprocal deposits can help Illinois banks retain large-balance relationships amid growing competition from money market funds, Treasuries, and other alternatives. Learn how bank-driven reciprocal deposit networks can improve deposit economics, lower funding costs, and expand deposit insurance options for commercial, municipal, and high-net-worth customers. Explore practical ways to use expanded insurance coverage as a growth and retention strategy while reducing deposit flight risk. The session will also cover the evolving deposit-insurance reform landscape and what it could mean for bank funding strategies.

Key Takeaways:

• Evaluate how bank-driven reciprocal deposit networks can reduce funding costs, improve deposit economics, and strengthen the bottom line on large-balance commercial, municipal, and high-net-worth relationships.
• Identify actionable strategies for using expanded deposit insurance as both a growth and retention tool by winning relationships that might otherwise go to larger institutions and reducing flight risk from alternative assets.
• Understand the deposit insurance reform landscape, including key legislation advancing in Congress, and how reciprocal deposits position Illinois banks ahead of where regulation is heading.

The Future of Banking: Steering Growth Through Uncertainty
Preston Afrank, Haberfeld
Community banks are navigating a defining period shaped by economic uncertainty, evolving regulation, AI, stablecoins, and rising customer expectations. This session explores practical strategies for responding to change while preserving the trust, relationships, and local connection that distinguish community banking. Participants will learn how to align organizational structure, culture, and strategic priorities to support long-term execution. The session will also outline a holistic approach to building a resilient, future-ready institution equipped to manage risk, adapt, and grow.

Key Takeaways:

• Navigate economic, regulatory, and technological changes and uncertainty.
• Implement strategies for aligning organizational structure and cultural initiatives with strategic priorities.
• Develop a holistic approach to building resilient, future-ready institution.

Capital: Now VS. Future
Karl Brorson, Director & Jim Crotty, Managing Director, Performance Trust Capital Partners, LLC
Raising capital is only half the equation. Your community bank peers are not only well-funded but also disciplined about where and how they deploy capital. Jim Crotty and Karl Brorson of Performance Trust Capital Partners will share frameworks institutions use when allocating capital, both defensively and offensively, with a focus on earnings sustainability and regulatory capital considerations.

Stablecoin: Compliance Risks and Opportunities for Bankers
Brian Shea, Wolf & Company, P.C.
This session provides a practical introduction to stablecoins and their emerging role in the payments ecosystem. Participants will examine how these dollar-pegged digital assets work, the opportunities and risks they may create for financial institutions, and how they could intersect with existing compliance programs. The session will also outline key requirements under the GENIUS Act, including issuer oversight, reserve and redemption standards, Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money-laundering responsibilities, sanctions compliance, and related regulatory expectations.

Key Takeaways:

• Demystify how stablecoins work and their role in financial systems.
• Identify how stablecoins may interact with existing compliance program obligations.
• Identify key compliance obligations arising from the GENIUS Act.

From AI Experiments to Bank-Ready Operations: A Practical Framework for Safe, Scalable Adoption
Rob Zwink, Onsetto, Inc.
This session offers a practical roadmap for moving from scattered AI experimentation to disciplined, scalable use across banking operations. Participants will learn how to determine where AI adds value—and where it should not be used—while defining appropriate human oversight and accountability. The session will show how to integrate AI adoption into existing risk, compliance, and governance structures, then move promising pilots into repeatable, auditable operational processes. Attendees will also explore the metrics needed to measure performance, manage model risk, and confirm that AI is delivering meaningful business outcomes.

Key Takeaways:

• How to evaluate where AI should (and should not) be used within banking processes.
• A practical framework for defining human vs. AI roles in operations.
• How to align AI adoption with existing risk, compliance, and governance expectations.
• A step-by-step approach to move from pilot programs to operational use.
• Key metrics to measure whether AI is actually improving outcomes.

Real Risks and Smart Defenses in an AI-Enabled World
Steve Sanders, Computer Services, Inc. (CSI)
This session examines the fast-changing threat landscape facing community financial institutions, including AI-enabled fraud, phishing, voice cloning, and increasingly sophisticated social-engineering attacks. Participants will learn how to identify their institution’s most significant areas of exposure and assess which risks deserve immediate attention. The session will offer practical, resource-conscious security strategies to strengthen controls, improve employee and customer awareness, and support a resilient response to emerging threats. The focus is on actionable steps that fit the size, mission, and operating realities of community institutions.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify emerging AI-driven fraud and social engineering threats.
• Evaluate their institution’s exposure.
• Prioritize practical, resource-conscious strategies to strengthen security and resilience.

Balance Sheet Advantage: Aligning Risk, Opportunity, and Strategic Goals
Marc Gall, BOK Financial Institutions Group
Explore where balance sheet risks and opportunities emerge—and how bank leaders can use these insights to support strategic planning, strengthen performance, and advance long term institutional goals. This session highlights the key questions executives should ask, the trade offs to evaluate, and how balance sheet decisions can directly shape the bank’s strategic trajectory.