Terry sits down with Cesile Johnson, CTO of Core Bank, for a conversation about what it actually takes to modernize a bank from the inside — the legacy systems nobody wants to touch, the guardrails that have to exist before AI gets anywhere near customer data, and the reality of building a career in a room where she was often the only woman in it.
Cesile walks through how her team took delivery velocity on one initiative from 5% to 85%, what real AI governance looks like inside a regulated bank versus the “vibe coding” hype, and why the trades conversation (welders and electricians, not just four-year degrees) matters as much to the future workforce as anything happening in tech. She’s also direct about fraud, budget reality, crisis leadership, and what people consistently get wrong about what a CTO actually does.
In this episode:
What “modernizing a legacy system” really means when you can’t just rip and replace
How Core Bank built AI guardrails before deploying AI, not after
Taking one team’s delivery velocity from 5% to 85%, and what actually changed
Why the trades — not just four-year degrees — are part of the talent pipeline conversation
Crisis leadership and what accountability looks like when something breaks
The real budget math behind fighting fraud, including the scale of elder fraud losses nationally
Being the only woman in the room, and what it took to get to CTO
What people misunderstand about the CTO role, and how it’s evolved
Advice for the next generation of leaders coming up in banking and tech
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:22 Technology Is the Bank
14:11 Legacy Systems and Real Modernization
23:38 Guardrails for AI in Banking
30:55 From 5% to 85%: AI, Velocity, and Vibe Coding
39:42 Trades, Degrees, and Vanishing Entry Jobs
48:14 Crisis Leadership and Accountability
1:01:25 AI in Banking: Fraud and the Budget Reality
1:10:51 The Only Woman in the Room
1:20:16 What People Get Wrong About the CTO Role
1:28:58 Legacy, Team Culture, and Advice for the Next Gen
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