Publications & Resources

Softcover: $24.95
E-Book: $9.99

The Ultimate Guide for Bank Directors
Catherine Ghiglieri and Jewell D. Hoover

Written by two former bank regulators and co-founders of The Bank Directors’ College, The Ultimate Guide for Bank Directors provides a roadmap for navigating the challenges facing the financial services industry today.  Containing practical examples, along with insights to the “rules of thumb” used by bank regulators, this indispensible guide offers bank directors the information and knowledge necessary to meet their fiduciary responsibilities.

Catherine Ghiglieri is the former Texas Banking Commissioner.  She spent 18 years at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and is President of Ghiglieri & Company, a bank consulting firm in Austin, Texas.

Jewell D. Hoover is President of Hoover and Associates, LLC, a bank consulting firm in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She is the former Deputy Comptroller for the OCC’s Western District and is on the board of a Fortune 500 company, which is a publicly traded financial institution.

Human Resources Guide to Social Media Risks
Jesse Torres

This Guide is about social media risks and the employment lifecycle. While plenty of guidance exists relative to social media marketing, strategic planning, business development and other related topics, very little has been done to address social media-related risks and human resources. As this Guide will demonstrate, social media risks relative to human resources activities are growing. This Guide will assist human resources professionals in identifying and mitigating social media-related risks before they manifest into damaging events that can take a toll on an organization’s reputation and profitability. A common historical response to social media has been to deny its existence within the organizational walls. As this Guide will show, it is no longer possible for organizations to bury their heads in the sand and ignore social media’s presence. Social media is not only here, it’s there, and there, and everywhere. Organizations no longer have the luxury of escaping social media’s influence in the workplace. In fact, the risks posed by social media are greatest within organizations that fail to acknowledge its existence. The goal of this Guide is to make the case that all organizations, regardless of their involvement in social media activities, are subject to social media risks in the workplace. As such, a desired outcome of this Guide is to assist organizations in implementing social media guidance related to human resources management. This guidance, in the form of policies and procedures, will protect organizations against the risks posed by social media, and in some cases, will provide organizations with the confidence to accept social media as a strategic objective.

Jesse Torres is a banker and social media enthusiast. Jesse has spent nearly 20 years in leadership and executive management positions in risk management, internal audit, regulatory compliance, operations, information technology and marketing. Jesse began his career as a bank examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") and then as a Senior Consultant for KPMG Peat Marwick’s financial services practice. Recently, Jesse has held executive management positions in several financial institutions ranging from $250 million in asset size to over $6 billion. Jesse has authored several e-books, including the Community Bankers Guide to Social Network Marketing, the Community Bankers Guide to Hispanic Marketing and Creating an Ironclad Social Media Policy.

It Is What It Is
Charles Thayer

2008: AmericanWest Bancorporation and its subsidiary bank, AmericanWest Bank, were in trouble, serious trouble, but the AmericanWest Board of Directors and management were committed to saving the Bank and avoiding its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The book describes how the Board of Directors, Rusnak, the management team and the employees of AmericanWest managed to navigate their way through the financial hurricane of 2008 and save their Bank.

Leading for Growth: How Umpqua Bank Got Cool and Created a Culture of Greatness
Raymond P. Davis and Alan Shrader

How any business leader can create an atmosphere of competitiveness for exceptional growth

When Ray Davis took over the local 40-person South Umpqua Bank in 1994, many people in the industry poked fun at his insistence that employees answer the phone with a cheery "World's Greatest Bank." Eleven years, $7 billion in assets, and 128 branches (or " bank stores" in Umpqua lingo) later, the moniker seems quite apt. Other banks scratched their heads when Davis sent his tellers to Ritz-Carlton to learn customer service and were intrigued when he hired a cutting-edge design firm to completely re-think retail layout. Now, with a top design award under their belt, a name change (there never was a North Umpqua bank), and a completely new definition of the banking business, Umpqua has become the darling of the entrepreneurial press and a growth powerhouse. The New York Times calls Umpqua "Starbucks with tellers."

Ray Davis (Portland, OR), named by U.S. Banker as one of the 25 most influential people in the financial industry in 2005, is President and CEO of Umpqua Holdings Corporation. Alan Shrader (Moraga, CA) is an experienced writer and editor of business books.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Patrick Lencioni

Building Better Boards: A Blueprint for Effective Governance
David A. Nadler, Beverly Behan, Mark Nadler and Jay W. Lorsch

Building Better Boards is a practical and provocative blueprint for helping CEOs and boards create real value by striking the right balance between contention and collaboration. It's an approach to corporate governance that goes far beyond minimum compliance with legal requirements; this is about enabling the board, for the first time, to perform as a team in a way that significantly improves the quality of management's decisions without interfering with management's prerogatives.

In an engaging style, Building Better Boards provides a unique glimpse at the complex interplay of egos, interests, and interpersonal dynamics that dictates how boards and CEOs operate. Based on Mercer Delta Consulting's unparalleled experience in working with top corporate leaders, supplemented by rigorous research conducted with the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and with the National Association of Corporate Directors, the book is a unique and invaluable resource for all those involved with and concerned about the future of corporate governance.