For Banks

How do you hire a commercial banker in California? You hire a 25-year headhunter who works this market and nothing else.

You end up with three to five assessed bankers who fit the seat, want the job, and carry a one year replacement guarantee behind them.

Jon Ward

Founder, Ward & Dean · 25 years in executive search · How I work

Define the seat with your stakeholders, map every banker in the market who fits it, then approach the ones who aren't looking. Assess against the brief before anyone gets forwarded. Ward & Dean runs that process for California community and regional banks, in commercial production and credit only. One niche, run by a 25-year headhunter.

Talk through a search Read the FAQ

Google-ranked CA commercial banking recruiter, 2019–2025

93%

Candidate retention at three years

3 of 4

Interviewed candidates get offers

25 yrs

In executive search

The cost

What does an open commercial RM seat actually cost you?

Start with what the seat carries. At community institutions the average commercial lender runs a $60 million portfolio and delivers around $2.1 million a year in net income to the bank.

$60M

Average commercial loan portfolio carried by one lender

$2.1M

Net income that lender delivers to the bank each year

44%

Of companies that switched banks blamed the relationship manager

39%

Would switch banks for better RM coverage, up from 31% in six months

Portfolio and net income figures: BalancedComp 2025-2026 Lending Compensation Survey, 88 financial institutions. Switching figures: Coalition Greenwich, July 2022.

That's the run rate you're covering while the seat sits empty. And it understates the damage, because a portfolio without an owner doesn't sit still. It drifts.

When the relationship goes cold, clients move. Of companies that recently switched banks, 44% said dissatisfaction with the relationship manager contributed to the decision. Over a single six-month stretch, the share who'd switch for better RM coverage climbed from 31% to 39%.

How does that cost compound month by month?

Here's the pattern I watch play out. Your bank's timeline will be its own, but the shape rarely changes.

Month 1. The pipeline slows. Your team covers the gap. Morale holds, barely.
Month 3. The revenue impact shows up in the numbers and the board starts asking questions.
Month 6. Exam exposure grows, and your best RMs are taking recruiter calls.
Month 9 and beyond. You're not filling one seat anymore. You're rebuilding a department.

What else slips while the seat sits empty?

The regulators keep moving whether you're staffed or not, and most of what follows never shows up in a vacancy calculation.

CRA ratings drift without active lending leadership tracking community loan commitments.
CRE and C&I concentration limits go unmonitored.
Loan-level BSA and AML gaps widen, and findings compound before your next exam cycle.
CECL reserve modeling and credit stress scenarios fall behind without a senior owner in the seat.
Core system and loan origination upgrades stall, and Central Valley, Inland Empire or SBA expansion gets shelved.

Why haven't the resumes worked?

Because the bankers you want aren't reading job boards. You posted the role, you got 40 resumes, and a handful could underwrite a middle market deal, and those are already in play somewhere else.

The banker who can bring a book with her is busy, well paid, and not looking. She'll take one call, from someone she trusts, about a seat that's genuinely better than the one she has. Getting that call made by someone she'll talk to is the entire job.

Senior RMs don't apply to openings. Your posting is invisible to them.
The good ones get a stack of recruiter messages every week and delete every one.
Your HR team doesn't have the network to have these conversations.
National firms assign junior recruiters who can't assess credit expertise.
LA, the Bay Area, the Central Valley and San Diego are four different talent pools that read four different ways.

Every placement I make is a passive candidate who wasn't looking at a job board or taking calls from recruiters. That's the whole reason the phone call has to come from someone they already know.

The process

How does a Ward & Dean search actually work?

You get an assessed shortlist of three to five bankers who fit the brief and want the job. Here's the path to it.

A full briefing with your stakeholders to define the role, the competencies, the geography, and your value proposition.
A complete map of the market: every candidate who fits the criteria, not just the ones already looking.
Systematic, discreet outreach to active and passive talent alike.
A weekly, written progress report. Every candidate, every conversation.
An assessed shortlist of three to five, qualified against the brief and genuinely interested.
A guarantee: if the hire leaves inside the first year for any reason but a layoff, I find the replacement at no additional fee.

Why does a specialist beat a generalist on this hire?

Because I'm a community/regional bank recruiter and that's all I am. California community and regional banking, production and credit. I don't dabble, I don't take a favor search outside the niche, and I won't tell you what you want to hear if I think you're about to make a mistake.

So I'll tell you the hard things. When your credit box is too tight for the talent you're chasing. When your comp band won't draw the talent you want. When a candidate you like won't hold up in committee. That focus is the difference between a resume forwarder and a recruiter who understands the seat.

Case studies

What does this look like on a real search?

Two of four. Candidate names are left out on purpose. The numbers are mine unless I say the client gave them to me.

Three competing banks, one market, one year

In 2018 I filled the Fresno market leader seat at California Bank & Trust, Comerica and Suncrest Bank. Three banks chasing the same clients in the same valley, and all three hired through me inside twelve months.

The California Bank & Trust seat was a succession hire. That banker is still in the chair 8 years later. The Suncrest hire brought her senior relationship manager with her, still runs Fresno as an SVP after Citizens Business Bank acquired the bank, and later became a client who hired through me herself. The Comerica hire stayed until Comerica pulled out of the Central Valley.

3 market leaders
4 hires in 12 months
8 years and counting

A San Francisco seat that had churned through leaders

A Bay Area community bank's new Chief Banking Officer inherited a San Francisco market with a history of leadership turnover. He'd been my client at a previous bank, so he called me first.

He gave me the brief and I called the banker I had in mind that same day. They had lunch two days later. Twenty-seven days after my first conversation with the client, the offer was accepted.

Eighteen months on, that hire has beaten his first-year production goals, settled the culture, and doubled the headcount in the office.

27 days to accepted offer
Production goals beaten
Headcount doubled

Read all four searches →

Proof

What do hiring managers say after the search?

The hiring managers behind three of the searches above, in their own words. Every one is a real client, findable on LinkedIn.

“

I highly recommend Jon Ward. He maintains a wide and deep network of candidates and really articulates opportunities as if he were a commercial banker.

Mike SilvaEVP Regional Market President, Comerica

“

Jon was instrumental in recruiting an accomplished commercial lender and her team for us from a competitor, solidifying our presence in a new market.

Ciaran McMullenChief Executive Officer, Suncrest Bank

“

I have found Jon very knowledgeable in the California market. He knows the best candidates for the position in the market. I really enjoy working with him.

Chuck RigsbeeCommercial Banking Regional President, California Bank & Trust

See all testimonials →

Engagement options

Retained or contingency: which one fits your seat?

Contingency works for a straightforward, lower level hire. When the seat is senior, confidential, or hard to fill, a retained process is what gets it right. Here's the honest comparison.

Retained search, contingency search, and posting the role yourself, compared.
	Retained search	Contingency search	Posting it yourself
When it fits	Senior, confidential, or hard to fill. The seats where a miss is expensive.	A straightforward, lower level hire in a deep talent market.	A role with a deep local pool and no confidentiality concern.
Who works it	Me, exclusively, until the seat is filled.	Me, alongside whoever else you've called.	Your HR team, on top of everything else they own.
Market coverage	Every banker who fits the brief, including the ones who aren't looking.	The candidates I can reach quickly.	Bankers who are actively looking right now.
What you see	A written weekly report: every candidate, every conversation.	Candidates as they surface.	Whatever the posting brings in.
Fee	25% of the hire's first year guaranteed compensation, agreed before I start.	30% of the hire's first year guaranteed compensation, paid on placement.	Job board spend, plus your team's screening hours.
Guarantee	Replacement at no additional fee if the hire leaves inside a year for anything but a layoff.	Agreed search by search.	None.

When retained fits

A senior or business-critical hire. A confidential replacement where discretion matters. A niche skill set or a tough market. Multiple seats at once. The roles where getting it wrong is expensive, and getting it right is worth a real process.

What you get

A committed partner who works the search until it's filled, and screens every candidate personally. No junior handoffs. Real market intelligence on comp and talent movement, a controlled and discreet process, and a shortlist assessed against your brief rather than sourced and forwarded.

What does it cost?

Retained costs less than contingency

Contingency is 30% of the hire's first year guaranteed compensation. Retained is 25% of the same. Retained is cheaper because you're committing to the process, and the process is what fills the senior seat. You know the number before any work starts.

25% / 30%

Retained / Contingency

Talk through a search

FAQ

Questions banks ask before they engage

Do you recruit outside California?

No. California community and regional banks, commercial production and credit. The whole asset of this firm is depth in one place, and depth dies the moment I start spreading out.

What roles do you actually fill?

Senior individual contributors through the C-suite: relationship managers, team leads, regional managers, Market Sector Directors, CBOs/EVPs of Commercial Banking, Sr. Credit Admins, Sr. Credit Officers, and CCOs. The people who originate the loans and the people who underwrite them.

What does a search cost?

Contingency is 30% of the hire's first year guaranteed compensation, paid on placement. Retained is 25% of the same, agreed before the search starts. Retained costs less because you're committing to the process, and the process is what fills a senior seat.

How long does a retained search take?

It depends on the seat, the market and the comp. You get a target timeline at the briefing and a written report every week measured against it, so you always know where the search stands rather than finding out at the end.

What happens if the hire doesn't work out?

On a retained search, if the hire leaves inside the first year for any reason other than a layoff, I find the replacement at no additional fee.

Will you approach candidates at banks we work with?

Off limits banks get agreed at the briefing, before any outreach starts, and I hold to that list for the life of the engagement.

How is a specialist recruiter different from a generalist?

A generalist sends resumes that match keywords. I know which relationship manager will hold up in credit committee, which credit box is too tight for the talent you're chasing, and what a candidate's reputation was three banks back.

Last updated: August 11, 2026

Get in touch

A search that matters?

I connect and broker strategic conversations between senior Commercial Banking and Credit professionals and the Executive and C-Suite hiring managers who can grow both banks and banking careers. If you are a bank with a mission-critical hire, or a seasoned banker looking for expert advice on how to navigate the next five years, here's how to reach me:

[email protected]805.440.4542 linkedin.com/in/jondward

Schedule a call