Leading Secure Transformation in Financial Services

When trust and technology evolve together, banking leaders win.
Accelerating digital change, relentless threats, and the need to keep customers’ trust, community bank tech leaders face more pressure than ever. In this episode of Converge Lab: Navigating Cyber & AI, Jon Waldman welcomes Chris Kreul, CTO at First Bank and Trust, for an unfiltered look at what’s working and what’s failing in modern cybersecurity strategy.
Hear how Chris Kreul went from reimaging call center computers during the ILOVEYOU virus days to leading an award-winning tech team. Uncover the real value of elevating cyber programs beyond box-checking, why empathy and communication are central to a security-first culture, and how AI is unlocking operational and security wins banks couldn’t even dream of five years ago.
Tune in to get inspired, rethink your approach, and drive your cybersecurity maturity forward.
==== Timestamps ====
00:03 Introduction
02:12 Chris Kreul’s cybersecurity origin story
04:34 Early lessons from ILOVEYOU and Code Red viruses
06:27 How cybersecurity thinking has evolved
08:18 Challenges in current cybersecurity approaches
10:13 Dangers of “check-the-box” security
13:22 Opportunities and what's working in security maturity
15:23 Building a strong cybersecurity culture
17:19 Empathy and human factors in security incidents
18:43 Evolution of banking technology and threat landscape
19:43 Predictions for technology and cybersecurity in the next five years
21:56 AI’s role in unlocking value and secure automation
22:44 Real-world AI use cases reducing vulnerabilities
28:04 Measuring AI’s ROI and operational impact
30:28 Lessons learned and the importance of continual learning
33:14 Episode wrap-up