Purpose:
As a key senior leader of a growing and innovative financial institution, the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) oversees all regulatory compliance and ethics functions for Five Star Bank and its investment affiliate, Courier Capital. The CCO is responsible for maintaining a sustainable Compliance Management Program (CMP), including Fair Lending and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) programs, to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations while proactively identifying and mitigating emerging risks.
Reporting regularly to the Board of Directors, Risk Oversight Committee, and executive leadership, the CCO provides strategic oversight of compliance risk within the Company's established risk appetite. The role leads the Compliance Committee and serves on key cross-functional committees to align compliance and ethics strategies with business objectives and regulatory expectations.
The CCO is accountable for Board-approved compliance and risk programs, ensuring they remain effective, responsive to regulatory developments, and aligned with organizational goals. Core responsibilities include compliance training, risk assessments, testing and monitoring, policy governance, complaint management, regulatory change management, and issue remediation.
The CCO also leads a high-performing second line of defense compliance team, partnering closely with business leaders to provide guidance, support sound risk management, and drive a culture of compliance across the enterprise. As a senior member of the Risk Department, the CCO contributes to the broader risk management framework and brings a strong understanding of enterprise risk, operational risk, information security, and financial crimes risk management while exemplifying the Company's values and leadership expectations.
Essential Functions:
- Compliance Program - Responsible for directing the Company’s compliance strategy by maintaining and effecting on the Company’s ongoing Compliance Program. Develops and maintains corporate compliance policies and establishes compliance review procedures.
- Regulatory Change Management - Interprets legislation or pending legislation and develops strategies for ensuring organizational compliance. Assists the firm in understanding and addressing all applicable laws and regulations.
- Change Management – Responsible for ensuring changes sponsored by the Company Compliance Department are managed in accordance with corporate change management policies. Supports line of business change management to ensure mitigation of adverse or unintended impacts.
- Risk Assessments; Issues/Actions – Oversee the conduct of (at a minimum) Annual Risk Assessments designed to identify and mitigate regulatory compliance risk issues; providing guidance to the First Line in crafting and documentation of risk remediation actions and monitors administration of remediation plans to successful completion; and providing quarterly interim risk assessment updates based of compliance testing and monitoring activities and issues management.
- Compliance Testing – Develops an annual risk-based Compliance Testing schedule and ensures the compliance testing team executes timely compliance testing engagements and reports on testing outcomes through the committee structure.
- Compliance Management – Manages the staff of and directs the activities of the Company’s Compliance Department.
- Complaint Management - Oversees the administration of the Company’s Complaint Management Program.
- Committee Governance - Chairs the Company’s Compliance Committee, presenting prepared materials and fostering conversation on Compliance culture, activities, issues and actions, serves on other management committees including Operating, New Product Approval, and Governance Process Review Committee, accountable to report material regulatory compliance risks directly to the Board and to senior management.
- Regulatory Management - Communicates with regulatory agencies, internal and external auditors, and other control groups on compliance related issues. Coordinates examination preparation and other responses to regulatory agencies, internal and external auditors, and other control groups on compliance related issues.
- Issues Management – Successfully manages departmental issues/findings through resolution and assists business partners to help timely mitigate compliance risks identified through monitoring, testing, audit and/or examination processes.
- Cross Functional Risk Management – Actively participates on multiple management risk focused committees which may include, among others (based upon knowledge base), the areas of: Company risk, credit, loan approval, disclosures, Allowance for Credit Losses, new product approval and community reinvestment.
- Ethics – Serving as the Chief Ethics Officer, working with Human Resource partners to thoroughly investigate allegations of illegal, improper, or unethical conduct by employees or company representatives.
- Compliance Culture/Training - Works closely with management and lines of business to establish an appropriate compliance culture throughout the firm including the development of specialized training programs and ensuring firm documents are compliant.
- Vendor Relationships – Effectively manages assigned third parties to ensure adherence to bank policy, procedure and protocol. Manages the Bank’s membership in the American Bankers Association.
- Demonstrate the standards and principles of the Five Star Bank experience in every interaction with internal and external customers, associates, and stakeholders. Incorporate the high-performance behaviors of teamwork, leading by example, and service in every facet of work.
Job Related Qualifications:
Required:
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree in business, management, organizational leadership or related curriculum
- Prior Experience: 10+ years progressive banking compliance with a thorough understanding of Banking Compliance Management System (CMS) aligned with regulatory expectations, 7+ years progressive management experience.
Preferred:
- Education: Master’s Degree in business, management, organizational leadership or related curriculum
- Prior Experience: 3+ years administering compliance management program as a Chief Compliance Officer for a financial institution and 10+ years progressive management experience; with a thorough understanding of Banking Compliance Management System (CMS) aligned with regulatory expectations
- Licenses or Accreditation: Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM)
Competencies:
- Ability to foster teamwork/leadership across the lines of defense and levels of management within the Company.
- Ability to assess situations and make effective decisions in stressful situations.
- Executive presence with excellent oral and written communication skills and strong attention to detail.
- Able to identify or research needed information to provide guidance and strategy.
- Ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships across the lines of defense and levels of management within the Company.
- Strong ability to analysis problem situations and craft clearly defined action plans to rectify.
- Desire to enhance current Compliance Management Program, further personal career and assume additional responsibilities as needed by the Company.
Physical Requirements:
- Able to regularly sit for prolonged periods of time.
- Able to regularly stand for prolonged periods of time.
- Able to travel:
- Occasionally outside of Company footprint and frequently within the Company footprint
- Ability to work:
- Evenings
- Occasionally
- Weekends
- Occasionally
- Evenings
Benefits:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Health Savings Account
- Flexible Spending Account(s)
- Company Paid Life Insurance, Long-Term Disability, and Short-Term Disability
- Voluntary Offerings: Life, Critical Illness/Specified Disease, Accident, Hospital Indemnity, Legal Insurance & Personal Accident
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Employee Referral Program
- Wellness Reimbursement Program
- Star Volunteer Program
- Employee Banking and Financial Perks
- Flexible Hybrid Work Schedule
- Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Company Paid Holidays
This job description is not exhaustive. The Chief Compliance Officer may be required to perform other duties as assigned.
The expected rate of pay for this position is shown above. Compensation offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education and, where applicable, licenses or certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. In addition to your base rate of pay and a competitive benefits package, successful candidates may be eligible to receive cash or equity-based incentives based on the role and performance.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in business, management, organizational leadership, or a related field
- 10+ years of progressive banking compliance experience
- Thorough understanding of Banking Compliance Management Systems aligned with regulatory expectations
- 7+ years of progressive management experience
- Master's degree in business, management, organizational leadership, or a related field
- 3+ years administering a compliance management program as Chief Compliance Officer for a financial institution
- 10+ years of progressive management experience
- Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager certification
What We Do
With 200 years of community banking experience and a portfolio of $5.0 billion in assets, Five Star Bank offers a wide range of consumer and commercial banking services to individuals, municipalities and businesses through a network of more than 45 branches and offices in Western and Central New York State. We provide our customers a dedicated team of over 600 employees who work together in an environment of trust, integrity, and mutual respect. Our customers are at the heart of our organization, where every interaction is an opportunity for us to deliver a friendly, professional, relationship building experience. We take great pride in being a part of each and every community in which we serve. We're committed to giving back to a variety of non-profit organizations, neighborhood charities and countless others. We are proud to be there for you, our customers, wherever, whenever and however you need us. We are Five Star Bank.
