Banks get an assessed shortlist that fits the seat. Bankers get moves that never reach a job board.
Ward & Dean is a California executive search firm covering one niche: the commercial production and credit talent that community and regional banks are built on. Jon Ward is a 25-year headhunter and community and regional bank search is the whole practice. Banks get an assessed shortlist. Bankers get moves that never reach a job board.
Because I place senior individual contributors, regional managers, EVPs and C-suite talent for California community and regional banks, and nothing else. Production and credit. The people who originate the loans and the people who underwrite them. Two sides of one coin, and you can't serve one without understanding the other.
I take engagements I believe I can win and decline the ones I can't. Fewer searches done well, not more searches done poorly.
If a candidate isn't right for the seat, I'll say so. I'd rather lose a placement than burn a career I've watched develop for fifteen years.
The banks I work with call me before they have a search, not only when a seat opens. That trusted-advisor relationship is earned over years, and it's the one thing in this business that never gets commoditized.
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.
Jon was instrumental in recruiting an accomplished commercial lender and her team for us from a competitor, solidifying our presence in a new market.
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.
Slide decks, candidate marketing pieces, and market intelligence, shared with clients and candidates.
Executive search for California community and regional banks, in commercial production and credit. Relationship managers, team leads, regional managers, 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.
The founder of Ward & Dean and the person who runs every search. A 25-year headhunter, and California community and regional bank search is the whole practice. He's worked with the same banks and the same bankers long enough to know reputations three banks back.
California community and regional banks. Not money center banks, not fintech, not corporate banking outside the state. The depth is the whole asset, and it dies the moment the practice spreads out.
No. Search work is paid by the hiring bank, so a banker in a search process never pays anything. Career Sherpa coaching is paid by the banker. I never collect from both sides: if I place a Career Sherpa client into a client bank, the bank pays the fee.
Email [email protected], call 805.440.4542, or book a call from this page. Banks get a briefing conversation about the seat. Bankers get a confidential conversation with no obligation and no resume shopped anywhere.
Last updated: August 11, 2026
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:
Schedule a call