BUILDER | OPERATOR | ADVISER

I have never viewed technology as an end in itself.

The more important question has always been: What can we make possible? That question has taken me far beyond the traditional boundaries of the CIO role and into business strategy, growth, client experience, data, cybersecurity, operations, governance, and enterprise value.

Matthew March
The Story

Technology has always been a means to make the organization more capable.

For more than 25 years, I have worked at the intersection of financial services and technology. I have held leadership roles across community and regional banking, fintech, mortgage and real estate platforms, and private-capital-backed businesses.

I have built greenfield companies, modernized legacy environments, integrated acquisitions, led regulatory and audit programs, created digital revenue channels, strengthened resilience, and managed through periods of extraordinary change.

The common thread is not technology for technology’s sake. It is the disciplined use of technology, data, design, operating models, and governance to make an organization more capable—of serving clients, growing, managing risk, making good decisions, and executing them consistently.

I also bring a high degree of emotional intelligence to environments where change is sensitive, politically charged, or difficult to navigate. I am known as a firm-but-fair leader and an effective change agent across corporate transformations, mergers and acquisitions, executive coaching conversations, boardrooms, and investor-facing situations where progress depends as much on trust and judgment as it does on technical expertise.

I am most useful when the problem is complex, the stakes are high, and the answer must work in the real world.
Career Arc

A career built across operating environments where technology, risk, and growth converge.

01
Current Leadership

West Coast Community Bank

Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, leading enterprise technology, digital innovation, data management, governance, regulatory readiness, facilities, and enterprise program management. The mandate is to strengthen the foundation while connecting technology more directly to client value, profitable growth, operational leverage, and scale.

02
Board Director & Fractional CISO

Revio Insight

Serves on the Board of Directors and as Fractional CISO for a financial-services customer-intelligence platform, advising the founders and executive team on product strategy, financial-institution partnerships, go-to-market execution, enterprise growth, governance, cybersecurity, capital readiness, and long-term value creation.

03
Chief Information Officer

Sunwest Bank

Helped reposition technology from a primarily operational function into a platform for national expansion, digital commercial banking, API partnerships, deposit growth, fee income, resilience, and client experience—while materially reducing the overall technology cost base.

04
Chief Information Officer

Pacific Premier Bank

Led technology, cybersecurity, data governance, physical security, and enterprise content management during a period of rapid organic and acquisition-driven growth. Supported expansion from approximately $3 billion to $20 billion in assets, integrated three acquisitions in two years, strengthened regulatory performance, created substantial recurring savings, and enabled new deposit and lending capabilities.

05
Chief Information Officer

Colony American Finance

Joined the Colony Capital-backed fintech startup to build the technology foundation for a national lending business serving real estate investors pursuing hold-for-rent and fix-and-flip strategies across residential and multifamily properties. Designed and launched the cloud-based platform in fewer than 60 days; during its first year, it enabled more than $1 billion in originations.

06
EVP, Chief Information Officer / Chief Administrative Officer

Banc of California

Helped transform PacTrust Bank into Banc of California, supported its NYSE uplisting, and helped scale the company from approximately $3 billion to $12 billion in assets through organic growth and two M&A transactions. As the role expanded from CIO to CAO/CIO, led a broad operating portfolio—including information technology, facilities, human resources, marketing, loan operations, deposit operations, procurement, central operations, and the branch network—excluding Finance, Legal, and Risk.

07
Chief Technology Officer

Carrington Mortgage Holdings

Carrington began as a Connecticut-based hedge fund and investment platform with approximately $28 billion in assets under management before the mortgage crisis. Joined after Bruce Rose acquired New Century’s servicing platform out of bankruptcy in 2007 and led the transfer of the $28 billion mortgage portfolio and related property assets from multiple subservicers into Carrington’s new servicing operation. Over the next 18 months, helped build the Carrington family of more than 10 companies spanning mortgage servicing, lending, REO, property management, real estate, escrow, title, and related services across the real estate ecosystem.

Selected Career Impact

Results across growth, scale, resilience, integration, and operating leverage.

Selected outcomes reflect the work of broader leadership, technology, operations, product, risk, and business teams across multiple executive roles.

$3.1B+

Deposits enabled across API banking, B2B integrations, and digital growth initiatives

7

Executed seven bank mergers and acquisitions, completed multiple core banking platform conversions, and developed a successful Branch in a Box strategy

$145M

New loans and deposits attributed to a $10K targeted digital campaign

$50M+

Annualized cost savings through technology modernization, contract renegotiation, and disciplined expense analysis

$1B+

First-year originations enabled through a greenfield platform build

$28B

Mortgage portfolio migrated into a newly established servicing operation

$3B → $20B

Asset growth supported through organic expansion and acquisitions

How I Lead

Principles that keep complex work connected to purpose and execution.

Business Before Technology

Begin with the strategy, client, economics, risk, and operating outcome. Technology follows the purpose.

Clarity Before Complexity

Make the problem understandable. Define the decision. Separate facts, assumptions, constraints, and choices.

Resilience Is Foundational

Growth is only valuable when the organization can operate, recover, protect trust, and sustain performance under pressure.

Governance Should Accelerate

Good governance creates clear ownership, faster decisions, better evidence, and confidence to move.

Value Must Be Measurable

A strategy should identify the business outcome, path to adoption, accountable owner, and evidence that value was created.

Firm, Fair Leadership

Use emotional intelligence, credibility, and clear expectations to affect positive change in sensitive environments, mergers, boardrooms, and executive teams.

Beyond the Boardroom

Curiosity is part of the operating system.

I studied computer science with a minor in mathematics and have served as a volunteer adjunct professor. I am a published author, frequent industry speaker, and named co-inventor on issued patents and patent filings.

Outside of work, I am an astrophotographer and lifelong student of science, mathematics, and emerging technology. That curiosity shapes how I approach complex systems: look closely, challenge assumptions, and find the signal in the noise.

Leadership

The best technology leaders do more than run technology.

They help the organization understand what is possible, decide what matters, and build the capability to deliver it.

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