What Makes a Strong Chief Lending Officer Hire in 2026

The Chief Lending Officer role has changed more in the past few years than its job description usually reflects. Banks hiring for it against an outdated picture of the role are often disappointed by candidates who look strong on paper.

Credit risk judgment in a different rate environment

A CLO's core job — sound credit risk judgment — hasn't changed. What has changed is the environment that judgment gets applied in: a rate environment that's shifted meaningfully from the conditions most current CLOs built their track record in, tighter margins on a lot of traditional lending categories, and portfolios that increasingly require judgment calls in categories that didn't exist or barely existed a decade ago. A candidate whose strongest experience is entirely from a very different rate environment needs to be evaluated on how they've adapted, not just on their historical track record.

Digital lending fluency, not just tolerance

Community and regional banks are under real pressure to modernize lending operations — faster decisioning, digital application flows, data-driven underwriting support. A CLO candidate who merely tolerates these tools, deferring the actual work to a separate digital or fintech team, is a different hire than one who can meaningfully direct how credit policy and digital process fit together. The latter is harder to find and worth the extra search time.

Regulatory fluency that's current, not historical

Regulatory experience matters as much as it ever did, but it needs to be current. A candidate whose regulatory experience is genuinely up to date with recent guidance and examination priorities is a meaningfully different hire from one whose regulatory depth, while real, is a few examination cycles out of date.

Interview questions for each area

The three areas above can each be tested directly.

• Credit judgment: ask the candidate to describe a credit they declined that others wanted approved, and one they approved that later struggled. Listen for what they changed afterward.
• Digital lending: ask which part of the lending process they personally redesigned, what it replaced, and how credit policy changed as a result.
• Regulatory fluency: ask what they would expect examiners to focus on at your bank in the next cycle, and why.

References that matter

For this role, the most useful references are not the ones the candidate lists first. With the candidate's permission, speak to a chief credit officer or senior credit colleague they worked alongside, a lender who reported to them, and where possible a board member. Ask each how the candidate handled disagreement over a credit decision.

Fit with the bank's own strategy

A strong CLO for a bank planning to grow commercial real estate is not automatically the right hire for one building SBA or agricultural lending. Be clear about where the portfolio is meant to go over the next several years, and assess candidates against that direction, not against the portfolio as it stands today.

NaviTrust recruits lending and executive leaders for regional and community banks. See also Succession Planning for Community Bank Leadership.

The strongest CLO candidates in 2026 combine traditional credit judgment with real fluency in a lending environment that looks different from the one most of the current CLO talent pool built their careers in. Banks that evaluate against that combination — rather than a resume that simply lists “20 years of commercial lending experience” — tend to make the stronger hire.

This guide is part of NaviTrust's Resources collection — practical hiring insight for community and regional banks. Hiring your next Chief Lending Officer? Get in touch with NaviTrust →