If last month is any indicator, small and midsize banks with openings in their C-suite need look no further than the ranks of larger banks that are being acquired. 

By the same measure, executives whose careers may be momentarily stalled by a merger could find the key to leveling up is in taking a higher-ranking job at a smaller institution.

San Francisco-based First Republic Bank’s succession woes are well-documented. As founder James Herbert’s tenure as CEO stretched toward the four-decade mark, First Republic last summer named Hafize Gaye Erkan its co-CEO, no doubt with the anticipation she would soon lead the bank on her own. Herbert announced in December he would take a six-month health-related leave of absence. But Erkan unexpectedly resigned in January, leaving the bank with a void at the top. First Republic appointed CFO Mike Roffler to its chief executive role and named its chief accounting officer, Olga Tsokova, as acting CFO. 

First Republic, however, kept its feelers out for bank CFOs in transition. Enter Neal Holland. 

Holland has served in several finance roles since joining MUFG in 2008 — most recently, becoming CFO of MUFG Union Bank and the Japanese company’s Americas division in June 2021. Less than three months later, though, U.S. Bank announced it would acquire MUFG Union Bank in an $8 billion deal that has yet to be approved by regulators.

Perhaps encountering an unclear path to advance after the tie-up closes, Holland jumped to First Republic. He’s set to begin as the San Francisco lender’s CFO in November, the bank announced last month. Tsokova, meanwhile, will become deputy CFO in addition to maintaining her chief accounting officer duties.

“Neal’s deep financial experience and broad understanding of the regulatory landscape will be very valuable as First Republic continues to deliver safe, consistent growth,” Roffler said in a press release. “Importantly, Neal’s client-centric and collaborative approach is aligned with our unique culture and business model.”

First Republic is not the only bank to benefit from an experienced executive’s transition away from an institution that’s being acquired.

New Jersey-based Provident Bank announced this week it hired Ravi Vakacherla as its executive president and chief digital and innovation officer. Vakacherla had a been a 22-year veteran of Bridgeport, Connecticut-based People’s United — beginning as a software programmer in 1999 and ascending to chief transformation officer, a role he held until July, according to LinkedIn.

M&T Bank’s acquisition of $63 billion-asset People’s United closed in April. 

Anthony Labozzetta, Provident’s CEO, said he is “delighted to welcome Ravi” to the bank’s executive leadership team. 

“Ravi is highly regarded in his field, he has a collaborative style and approach, and is skilled at bringing people and processes together and creating high-performing and unified teams who achieve results,” Labozzetta said in a press release Monday.

Another banking executive last month showed that to reach the top of the corporate ladder, one might have to get in on the ground floor. Nave Bank, a Puerto Rico-based institution which applied for federal deposit insurance in December, hired Carlos Garcia as its holding company’s chairman and chief executive, according to an updated filing seen by American Banker.

Garcia, as of last month, was a director at Professional Holding Corp., a Miami-area institution that is being acquired by fellow Florida lender Seacoast. Garcia will not join Seacoast’s board, according to Nave’s application.

"As a new community bank, the bank seeks to provide a unique and affordable product offering providing value to customers that are presently unsatisfied, underserved, or unbanked by deploying modern systems and digital channels," Nave’s organizers wrote in their application, according to American Banker.

More than a quarter of Puerto Rico's population is unbanked and leans heavily on cash, the organizers said, adding that many existing banks on the island lack “highly functional digital products.” 

Nave aims to become a minority depository institution and will apply to be a community development financial institution.