Mid Penn Bank Appoints Christopher Nestore as Chief Risk Officer to Strengthen Enterprise Risk Management
Mid Penn Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: MPB), has appointed Christopher Nestore as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. In his new role, Nestore will lead the bank’s enterprise risk management function, bringing three decades of financial services experience across operational risk, regulatory oversight, governance, audit, and internal controls.
Nestore will report directly to Rory Ritrievi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mid Penn Bank. His appointment comes as the financial institution continues to expand its operations and prepares for the possibility of reaching or exceeding $10 billion in total assets. The bank expects his experience in developing risk management programs and overseeing complex regulatory matters to support its long-term growth and strengthen its risk governance framework.
The appointment adds an experienced risk management executive to Mid Penn Bank’s senior leadership team at a time when financial institutions must balance business expansion with effective oversight, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience.
Strengthening Enterprise Risk Management Leadership
As Chief Risk Officer, Nestore will oversee Mid Penn Bank’s enterprise risk management function, which is responsible for identifying, assessing, monitoring, and managing risks across the organization. Enterprise risk management helps banks understand the potential threats associated with lending, financial operations, regulatory obligations, technology, third-party relationships, and other business activities.
For a growing financial institution, a well-developed risk management framework is essential to maintaining operational stability and supporting sustainable business development. As banks expand their balance sheets, customer bases, products, and service channels, their risk exposures can become more complex. Effective oversight helps management identify emerging issues and make informed decisions about the bank’s risk profile.
Nestore’s responsibilities will include bringing his experience in operational risk, regulatory remediation, governance, and controls to Mid Penn Bank’s existing risk management operations. His background in financial services includes working with senior executives, board committees, and regulators on significant risk and control matters.
Rory Ritrievi welcomed Nestore to the bank’s executive leadership team, highlighting his experience in operational risk, regulatory oversight, and governance. Ritrievi also emphasized the importance of Nestore’s strategic perspective and judgment as Mid Penn Bank continues pursuing growth toward and potentially beyond $10 billion in assets.
The appointment reflects the bank’s focus on maintaining an effective risk management structure as its operations develop. Strong leadership in this area can help financial institutions align business objectives with appropriate risk controls, oversight processes, and regulatory expectations.
Three Decades of Financial Services Experience
Nestore brings approximately 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. His professional background spans enterprise risk management, regulatory remediation, audit, governance, and controls, providing him with experience across several functions that support the safety and soundness of banking operations.
Throughout his career, Nestore has held senior positions involving the development and oversight of risk management frameworks, regulatory matters, financial governance, and internal control systems. These areas require coordination among business units, risk professionals, compliance teams, finance departments, and executive leadership.
His experience is particularly relevant to banks operating in a regulatory environment where risk oversight must evolve alongside business growth, changing financial conditions, and new operational challenges.
Operational risk management focuses on potential losses or disruptions arising from inadequate or failed internal processes, human actions, systems, or external events. In banking, these risks can include technology failures, processing errors, fraud, cybersecurity incidents, inadequate controls, and disruptions involving third-party service providers.
Effective operational risk management involves identifying vulnerabilities, establishing appropriate controls, monitoring performance, and ensuring that issues are addressed in a timely manner. Senior risk leaders also help communicate significant exposures to executive management and the board so that decisions reflect an informed understanding of potential consequences.
Nestore’s experience across operational risk and governance provides a foundation for leading these responsibilities at Mid Penn Bank.
Leadership Experience at TD Bank
Before joining Mid Penn Bank, Nestore served as Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Operational and Model Risk Management at TD Bank. In that position, he provided independent oversight and governance across the bank’s U.S. operations.
His responsibilities included advising senior executives, board committees, and regulators on material risk and control matters. This work required an understanding of operational exposures, governance requirements, control effectiveness, and the information needed to evaluate the bank’s risk position.
Independent risk oversight is an important component of banking governance. It helps provide an additional layer of review separate from the business activities that create risk. By evaluating controls and challenging risk-related decisions where necessary, risk management teams help ensure that potential problems receive appropriate attention.
Model risk management is another significant area within financial services. Banks use models to support activities such as forecasting, financial planning, risk measurement, credit decisions, and capital analysis. These models can influence important management decisions, making appropriate development standards, validation, monitoring, and governance essential.
Nestore’s experience leading both operational and model risk management functions at TD Bank provides exposure to the challenges of overseeing risk across a large banking organization.
During his time at TD Bank, he also held several other senior leadership roles spanning operational risk, Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act Stress Testing (DFAST) strategy, finance governance, and shared services.
These responsibilities involved areas that are important to the broader risk and control environment of a financial institution. Capital planning and stress testing, for example, help banks evaluate their resilience under adverse economic and financial scenarios. Finance governance supports reliable financial processes and reporting, while shared services can involve operational functions that support multiple parts of an organization.
His experience across these areas has provided a broad perspective on how risk management, financial governance, and operational processes interact within a complex banking business.
Experience Across Major Financial Institutions
Before his senior leadership roles at TD Bank, Nestore held positions at Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, KPMG Consulting, and Neuberger & Berman.
These professional experiences contributed to a career spanning different areas of financial services, including banking, consulting, and investment management. Working across multiple institutions can provide risk professionals with insight into different operating models, control environments, regulatory expectations, and approaches to organizational governance.
Risk management has become an increasingly important part of banking leadership as institutions respond to evolving regulatory requirements, technological developments, and changing customer expectations. Financial institutions must maintain systems that identify risks early, establish appropriate accountability, and support timely responses when weaknesses are discovered.
Professionals with experience in both operational oversight and regulatory matters can help banks coordinate these responsibilities across departments. Nestore’s background in risk management, audit, governance, and controls aligns with the broad scope of responsibilities associated with a chief risk officer position.
His appointment brings this experience to Mid Penn Bank as the organization continues to develop its banking operations and risk management capabilities.
Supporting Growth Toward the $10 Billion Asset Threshold
One of the key considerations highlighted by Mid Penn Bank’s leadership is the institution’s potential growth toward and beyond $10 billion in assets.
Asset growth can create additional opportunities for banks, including the ability to serve more customers, expand lending activities, develop new products, and increase their presence in existing markets. At the same time, growth can increase the complexity of risk management, regulatory compliance, reporting, technology, and internal governance.
The $10 billion asset level is also an important regulatory threshold for U.S. banks. Depending on the applicable legal and regulatory requirements, crossing this level can affect the supervisory and compliance obligations a financial institution must address.
For a growing bank, preparing for this possibility involves more than increasing lending or expanding its customer base. Management must also evaluate whether the institution’s risk controls, staffing, systems, policies, and reporting processes are appropriate for its changing scale.
A chief risk officer plays a central role in this preparation by helping management identify potential weaknesses, establish oversight priorities, and maintain a clear understanding of risks across the organization.
Nestore’s experience with enterprise risk management and regulatory oversight may help Mid Penn Bank assess and manage these responsibilities as it grows. His background advising senior executives, board committees, and regulators is also relevant to maintaining effective communication and governance as the organization’s operations become more complex.
Ritrievi’s comments indicate that the bank views Nestore’s appointment as part of its efforts to support continued expansion while maintaining strong risk management practices.
Education and Professional Development
Nestore earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in finance, from Villanova University.
His academic background in business administration and finance provides a foundation for understanding the financial, operational, and strategic considerations involved in managing a banking organization.
He also completed the RMA Advanced Risk Management program at The Wharton School. The program adds specialized risk management education to his professional experience in enterprise risk, operational controls, regulatory matters, and governance.
Advanced professional development is particularly relevant in financial services, where risk management practices must respond to changing regulations, new technologies, market developments, and evolving supervisory expectations.
The combination of formal education and extensive industry experience supports Nestore’s transition into the Chief Risk Officer position at Mid Penn Bank.
Risk Governance Remains Central to Banking Operations
Risk management is an essential part of a bank’s ability to operate responsibly and support its customers over the long term. Financial institutions face a wide range of exposures, including credit risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, operational risk, compliance risk, cybersecurity threats, and model risk.
Although individual departments may manage specific categories of risk, enterprise risk management provides a broader framework for understanding how these exposures interact. It helps senior leadership evaluate the organization’s overall risk position and determine whether controls and policies remain appropriate for its business activities.
A strong governance framework also supports accountability. Clearly defined responsibilities, regular monitoring, reliable reporting, and timely escalation of concerns help management respond to problems before they become more significant.
As Mid Penn Bank continues its growth plans, maintaining these capabilities will remain important to its business strategy. Nestore’s experience in operational risk and regulatory oversight is expected to contribute to these efforts.
His appointment also underscores the role of experienced risk leadership in supporting financial institutions as they navigate regulatory obligations and pursue business development opportunities.
Christopher Nestore’s appointment as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer represents a leadership addition focused on enterprise risk management at Mid Penn Bank. With approximately 30 years of financial services experience, including senior responsibilities at TD Bank and earlier positions at major financial institutions, he brings a background in operational risk, model risk management, governance, regulatory remediation, and internal controls.
Reporting to President and CEO Rory Ritrievi, Nestore will lead the bank’s enterprise risk management function as Mid Penn Bank continues to expand its operations and evaluates the possibility of reaching or exceeding $10 billion in assets.
The appointment highlights the importance of aligning risk management capabilities with organizational growth. By bringing experienced leadership into this function, Mid Penn Bank aims to maintain effective oversight and strengthen the risk management programs that support its operations, regulatory responsibilities, and long-term business objectives.
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