With troubles in the rearview, Blue Ridge names new CEO

• Key insight: Blue Ridge Bankshares, which ran into regulatory trouble over its fintech partnerships, has a new CEO following the departure of Billy Beale.
  
• What's at stake: The board appointed Blue Ridge's chief credit officer, Harry Golliday, to serve as interim CEO. Golliday takes over at a crucial time for the bank, which recently shed a consent order related to its failed banking-as-a-service endeavor.
  
• Forward look: Blue Ridge is focused on getting back to traditional community banking, which means it's trying to do more commercial-and-industrial banking as well as commercial real estate lending.

UPDATE: This article has been updated with comments from Blue Ridge's new CEO.

Blue Ridge Bankshares in Richmond, Virginia, has a new leader following the departure of Billy Beale, who helped the bank recover from a series of failed partnerships with fintechs.

Harry Golliday, 62, has been appointed interim president and CEO of the $2.4 billion-asset holding company and interim CEO of its banking arm, Blue Ridge Bank, according to a notice filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Golliday has been the chief credit officer since 2024.

In the filing, it said that Golliday's current employment agreement, which is due to expire on May 3, would automatically be extended on that date for a one-year period unless either Golliday or the board gives written notice of nonrenewal at least 90 days before the end of the current term. No such nonrenewal has been filed, so the agreement will renew through May 3, 2027, the notice said.

Golliday will be entitled to a minimum base salary of $325,000, according to the filing. He is also eligible to earn an annual cash bonus and long-term incentives, each up to 30% of his salary. 

"Since I joined Blue Ridge Bank … the bank has undergone a significant change that has materially strengthened our financial condition, asset quality and business mix," Golliday said in a press release. "I look forward to working with the company's board of directors and executive team to achieve our strategic and financial goals, as the bank of choice in the communities we serve."

Beale's exit comes about four months after Blue Ridge was released from a 2024 consent order related to its foray into the banking-as-a-service business. When the bank was freed from the order, Beale told American Banker that it was released because it moved quickly to rid itself of fintech partnerships and hired "very talented people" in risk management.

Beale is a 76-year-old veteran community banker who came out of retirement to lead Blue Ridge. Under his leadership, the bank turned its focus back to traditional community banking, making more commercial-and-industrial and commercial real estate loans. It stopped making loans outside of its home state, and it hired relationship managers who live where they work.

Blue Ridge was dealing with regulatory scrutiny when Beale joined in May 2023. Since 2020, it had been building out its banking-as-a-service strategy, led by then-CEO Brian Plum.

By the time Beale came on board, Blue Ridge had about 70 fintech partnerships. Regulators had identified issues with its anti-money-laundering controls related to both those partnerships and the bank's proposed acquisition of FVC BankCorp in Fairfax, Virginia, was called off before Beale arrived.

Beale succeeded Plum as president and CEO of the holding company in mid-2023 and quickly started exiting fintech partnerships. The bank terminated its final such partnership in December 2024.

According to the Thursday filing, Blue Ridge's board of directors and Beale agreed that he would "step down" from the bank, effective March 6. The two sides entered into a "retirement agreement" under which Beale will receive his 2025 bonus, payable within the next 30 days. 

He will also be vested in more than 18,500 shares awarded to him in a restricted stock grant made in 2023. In addition, Beale will receive a lump-sum payment of $180,478 and 12 monthly cash payments of $84,000, totaling about $1 million.

In connection with his departure, Beale resigned from the boards of directors of the bank and the parent company. He agreed "not to disparage" his former employer, and vice versa.

Beale did not respond Friday to a request for comment. In the bank's press release, he said: "I was hired out of retirement to do a job, and that job is now done."

"It is time for me to return to retired life," he added.

Golliday joined Blue Ridge in January 2024 as its chief credit officer. Prior to Blue Ridge, he worked at Capital One Financial for 14 years and SunTrust Banks for 18 years.

In an interview Friday, Golliday said the management team led by Beale achieved three critical goals. It raised capital, exited the consent order and returned the bank to profitability. 

"When I joined two years ago, the current management team and I, under Billy's leadership, came up with a three-year strategic plan to exit the fintech business, improve asset quality and change the business mix back to our core competency as a community bank," Golliday told American Banker. "Now we're well-positioned to grow the community bank franchise."

Blue Ridge reported net income of $10.7 million for all of 2025, a sharp rebound from 2024, when it lost $15.4 million.

The termination of the consent order had a positive impact on the bank's borrowing costs, operating costs and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance premiums, Beale said in a January press release announcing the results. While the bank's loan portfolio had continued to shrink, it noted that its loan pipeline was growing and predicted that its balance sheet would grow by mid-single digits.