•  brian maass

  • my work resume

    Independent Director | Consultant | Entreprenuer | Finance Executive

    2021-current

    1995-2021

    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 working in the banking group at Crowe, where I learned the foundational mechanics of how banks operate.

    Driven by a desire to build things and challenge myself, 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 but 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 2008-2009 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, increasing the bank’s size from $18 billion to $48 billion and helping position it to compete in a changing industry.

    Today, I serve on the Board of Directors at Horizon Bank as an Independent Director, where I chair the ALCO Committee and as member of the Audit Committee. I also operate independently through Maass Financial Consulting LLC, where I advise executive teams, boards, and banks on strategy, capital, liquidity, M&A, and navigating disruption.

    As an entrepreneur, I enjoy gathering data and transforming it into unique insights which has led to several data-driven businesses and personal projects. I also have extensive research and analysis that is focused on bitcon and berkshire hathaway (high quality, value oriented, non-correlated assets).

  • my thoughts on the banking industry today

    “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 arguably going back thousands of years. 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 which is a trend that is far from over.

    I’ve been fortunate to participate in this shift firsthand. Over the course of my career, I’ve worked on dozens of bank acquisitions, nearly all from the acquirer’s side. These were growth-driven organizations, many expanding their footprint and capabilities through strategic mergers.

    But the next wave of transformation won’t be driven by M&A alone.

    The industry now faces rising pressure from Big Tech, FinTech, Credit Unions, non-bank lenders, CBDCs, stablecoins and yes—even Bitcoin. These forces are reshaping customer expectations, product delivery, infrastructure, and trust. Banks that survive and thrive will need to do more than just scale. They will need to specialize, digitize, and adapt.

    While I’ve spent decades in traditional finance, I’ve also spent the last several years researching and understanding the evolving world of digital assets (bitcoin and stablecoins) and how they will intersect with tradfi, capital markets, and regulatory frameworks. I understand the emerging threats and opportunities better than most traditional banking executives, and I bring a level of operational, risk-seasoned management, and liquidity managment insight that most fintech founders and investors simply haven’t lived through.

  • some unique work experiences/ memories