Succession planning

The challenges of running a business become exponentially greater when managers seem to be spending more and more of their time finding and training new team members than in actually executing strategy.

Roughly once a quarter senior executives at Community Bank in Brandon, Miss., take a select group of up-and-coming managers on a three-day retreat. The trips are part of a management training course known as the Falcon Program that took flight in 2012.

New Bancorp in New Buffalo, Mich., has hired Shawna Zawada as controller and principal financial officer, days after Russell Dahl resigned as chief financial officer.

The chairman of First National Bank of Santa Fe has accepted additional duties ahead of the bank's upcoming merger.

The longtime chairman and chief executive of Cathay General Bancorp will relinquish his CEO title this fall and the company's bank president is set to succeed him.

Needham Bank in Massachusetts is searching for a new chief executive just 14 months after its current leader took over.

The $359 million-asset Merchants said in a press release Friday that Rocco Del Vecchio will succeed Anthony Biondi as chief executive on Aug. 22. Biondi is retiring after 12 years on the job.

CNB Financial in Clearfield, Pa., has picked a veteran director to be its next chairman, the sixth in the company's 32-year history.

Mercantile Bank and Dime Community recently outlined plans for their CEOs' retirements, while Cullen/Frost made the transition earlier this year. Each transition is anchored in a belief that success hinges on turning day-to-day operations over to a trusted lieutenant.

NexTier Bank in Butler, Pa., has tapped its chief operating officer as its next leader.

SouthCrest Financial Group in Woodstock, Ga., has found a new leader after his predecessor departed eight months ago.

A BB&T unit that finances power equipment has a new president.

While some institutions find it sensible to appoint chief operating officers to assist the CEO or as part of a succession plan, many others increasingly choose to go without a COO.

On top of running a bank’s day-to-day operations, chief operating officers particularly at smaller banks play the additional role of CEO-in-waiting.

The former C1 Financial chief, expected to play a critical role at Bank of the Ozarks, resigned just a week after his company's sale. Thanks to a lengthy noncompete, it could take years to determine his next move.

Banks must come to grips with the fact that adapting to the industry's transformational changes means having new faces in the corporate suite.

FirstBank Holding in Lakewood, Colo., will have a sole chairman after one of its co-founders announced plans to step down.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., will have a new chief executive in 2017. The company said Monday that Ray Davis, 67, will step down as president and CEO, effective Jan. 1. Davis, who will become executive chairman, will be succeeded by Cort O'Haver, who was named president of Umpqua Bank in April.

Tim Sloan, president and COO at Wells Fargo, is widely viewed as next in line to take over as CEO of the bank. He discussed the speculation — as well as energy lending, credit standards, living wills and a number of other topics — in a recent interview.

It's tough enough for people to rise to the top once in life. Getting there twice is harder still. Here are some notable examples of executives from that select, latter group.