- Key insight: Fintech entrepreneur Brian Barnes, who bought B2 Bank in 2021, is bringing in a new senior leadership team to pursue a national digital banking strategy.
- What’s at stake: Barnes is turning to executives hired away from Climate First Bank as he seeks to build a nationwide platform.
- Supporting data: B2 has doubled both its assets and deposits in size since Barnes acquired it.
A Minnesota community bank that’s owned by the founder of a wealth management fintech is restructuring its C-suite in a bid to further its national digital banking strategy.
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B2 Bank in Mountain Iron, Minn., has hired Ryan Jaskiewicz as its CEO. Joining him are Chris Cucci, who will serve as president, and Chris Van Buskirk, who was appointed chief credit and risk officer. All three executives came from Climate First Bank in St. Petersburg, Fla., where they held senior leadership positions.
Jaskiewicz was president of structured finance at Climate First, while Cucci was chief strategy officer, and Van Buskirk was chief credit officer.
Jaskiewicz succeeds Randy Peterson, who retired earlier this month after 13 years as CEO of the $71.8 million-asset B2 Bank.
B2 is owned by Brian Barnes, who founded the digital wealth management platform M1 Finance. He acquired B2, formerly the First National Bank of Buhl, in July 2021, with an eye toward bolstering his M1 operation and positioning the bank as a leading banking-as-a-service provider.
According to Jaskiewicz, a mutual friend introduced him to Barnes. “I was intrigued by the strategic vision for the bank,” Jaskiewicz wrote in an email.
He added that B2’s plans “will allow us to reach a nationwide audience in a way that we are passionate about.”
Both B2 and M1 have grown significantly in four-plus years. B2 has more than doubled its assets and deposits, while M1’s assets under management grew from $4.5 billion midway through 2021 to more than $12.5 billion at the start of 2026.
But there have been stumbles, too.
In November, 2023 — in the midst of
The OCC terminated the B2 enforcement action less than two years later, in September 2025.
Jaskiewicz founded 12Five capital, a Chicago-based commercial finance firm, in 2006, and ran it until it merged with Breakout Capital in Charleston, S.C., in September 2023. He joined Climate First in October 2024.
Cucci worked as a commercial relationship manager at JPMorganChase and Wells Fargo, and as senior vice president commercial banking at SouthState Bank Corp. in Winter Haven, Fla., before joining Climate First in 2021.
Van Buskirk is a community banking veteran. He worked at two other Florida-based institutions, Florida Choice Bank in Mount Dora and First Green Bank in Orlando, before joining Climate First in 2021.
“Credit is the foundation of any great bank, and B2 Bank has the right environment to build a credit culture that’s both disciplined and growth-oriented,” Van Buskirk said in a press release.
Climate First was founded in 2021. It grew to $1.62 billion of assets by year-end 2025.
“We all had a great experience at [Climate First] and are excited to see their continued success,” Jaskiewicz wrote in the email.