View full ⤢Independent Director · Consultant · Entrepreneur · Finance Executive
I’ve always been fascinated by the power of compounding. That curiosity about money and exponential growth began early, growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, where one of my first jobs was as a bank teller in high school.
I earned a degree in accounting, became a CPA, and launched my career in public accounting in the banking group at Crowe, where I learned the foundational mechanics of how banks operate. Driven by a desire to build things, I pursued an MBA in Finance while deliberately transitioning from accounting into corporate finance, then treasury, and ultimately capital markets.
I’ve spent my entire career in banking, always gravitating toward roles that required strategic thinking, transformation, and calm leadership in the face of complexity and chaos.
For over a decade, I led Global Funding and Liquidity at one of the largest banks in the U.S., guiding the institution through the 2008 to 2009 financial crisis and managing billions in global issuance and funding strategy across currencies and regulatory regimes.
From there, I became Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer of a regional bank, then advanced to Chief Financial Officer for a publicly traded bank where I led multiple transformative mergers, growing the institution from $18 billion to $48 billion in assets.
These were growth-driven organizations expanding through strategic deals. I was involved in dozens of bank acquisitions, nearly all from the acquirer’s side, developing a deep understanding of how banks are built, valued, and integrated.
Today, I serve on the Board of Directors at Horizon Bank as an Independent Director, chairing the ALCO Committee and serving on the Audit Committee. Through Maass Financial Consulting LLC, I advise executive teams, boards, and banks on strategy, capital, liquidity, M&A, and navigating disruption.
As an entrepreneur, I build data-driven businesses that turn genuine curiosity into something useful, and I research Bitcoin and Berkshire Hathaway, two high-quality, value-oriented, non-correlated assets that reflect my long-term focus on durable systems and compounding.
View full ⤢“It’s an industry still in consolidation.”
When I started my career, the U.S. had over 10,000 banks. Today that number is under 4,500 and still dropping. I’ve spent the last 30 years directly in the middle of that transformation.
Banking is one of the oldest industries in the world, and yet in the U.S. we’ve long had more banks than most developed economies. The last few decades have been defined by mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation, a trend far from over. Over my career I’ve worked on dozens of bank acquisitions, nearly all from the acquirer’s side.
But the next wave won’t be driven by M&A alone. The industry faces rising pressure from Big Tech, FinTech, credit unions, non-bank lenders, CBDCs, stablecoins, and yes, even Bitcoin. Banks that thrive will need to do more than scale; they’ll need to specialize, digitize, and adapt.
While I’ve spent decades in traditional finance, I’ve also spent the last several years researching digital assets and how they’ll intersect with tradfi, capital markets, and regulation. I understand the emerging threats and opportunities better than most traditional banking executives, and I bring operational, risk-seasoned, liquidity-management insight that most fintech founders haven’t lived through.
