Michael Finn

Mike Finn is a Senior Advisor with Treliant, providing clients with expertise in enterprise risk management, corporate governance, and regulatory relations. Mike has over 35 years of experience as a Chief Risk Officer at several public companies and a senior regulatory leader at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).

Most recently, Mike served as Senior Executive Vice President/CRO for Sterling National Bank through the merger with Webster Bank in 2022. At Sterling, he led executive risk strategy, enterprise risk framework, and board and regulatory relations as a member of the executive leadership team. He was also the Sterling lead in navigating the sale and integration of all business lines, systems, policies, teams, and culture to Webster. Additionally, Mike was the founding executive sponsor of Sterling Pride, the LGBTQ+ business resource group. Prior to Sterling, Mike was EVP/CRO at Hudson Valley Bank, leading a strategic risk turnaround that culminated in the bank’s sale and integration with Sterling.

In government, Mike worked as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Comptroller in the OCC Northeastern District. There, he was instrumental in the planning and execution of major risk management and compliance activities for over 400 institutions. He also held numerous leadership positions with OTS, including as Regional Director in both the West and Northeast Regions, and in OTS’s DC headquarters as an executive leader. He developed strategy and provided oversight to large teams for the examination and supervision of hundreds of banks and holding companies across the U.S., and engaged with the international Basel Committee on Bank Supervision. He has a reputation as a global thought leader among bank CEOs/boards, with industry trade groups, and with fellow regulators on domestic and international policy and regulatory issues.

Mike has significant achievements executing corporate growth strategies, improving financial performance, and maximizing returns by enhancing governance, controlling risks, and instituting risk management teams, systems, and processes. He possesses a dynamic strategic perspective to foresee governance, risk and compliance (GRC) obstacles, competitive issues and opportunities through growth, and dynamic change and crisis situations. Mike is talented at developing relationships and collaborating with internal constituents, including boards, as well as with external stakeholders such as regulators, GRC practitioners, and industry consultants. He has been a trusted strategic advisor in the C-Suite and a member of multiple executive committees. He also has a long record of hiring, developing, mentoring, and building large high-performing cross-functional teams.

Mike earned a BS in Human Resource Management with an emphasis in Economics from Susquehanna University. He has worked closely in industry with the Midsize Bank Coalition of America and the Risk Management Association’s Mid-Tier CRO Working Group. Mike served as a Board Member of Junior Achievement of New York and is currently on the Board of Career Resources, Inc.