Built for banks that don't have a model risk team.
Community banks are adopting AI tools, fielding vendor pitches for AI-embedded products, and facing new regulatory expectations for governance — all without the model risk infrastructure that larger institutions have spent years building.
This handbook is a practical, chapter-by-chapter guide to building AI governance that fits the scale, staffing, and regulatory environment of a community institution — from board oversight and policy design to vendor management and audit readiness.
Every policy, template, and recommendation is purpose-built for this handbook, informed by public regulatory guidance and the day-to-day realities community banks share.
The best time to build a governance program was before you started using AI. The second best time is now. The worst time is after the examiner asks for it.
What's inside the handbook
A complete governance program, sequenced the way you'd build it — foundations first, oversight last.
Foundations
The Rules That Already Apply
Building the Governance Program
Managing the Risks
Oversight and Assurance
Putting Governance to Work
90-Day Quick Start
A week-by-week roadmap from zero to a foundational program in one quarter — inventory, risk classification, policy adoption, committee charter, first board report.
Eight Case Studies
From shadow-AI discoveries to fair-lending findings and the board that asked the right question. Each walks through the challenge, the response, and the lesson.
Worked Examples
Fully completed samples of key governance documents — so you can see what "good" looks like before building your own.
Who this book is for
Tailored guidance for every role responsible for AI governance at your institution.
Board Members & Directors
A clear structure for board-level AI oversight, with a reference guide built for directors who need to ask the right questions.
CEOs & Senior Executives
The operational context to make AI strategy decisions your compliance and IT teams can actually execute.
Governance & Risk Committees
Meeting agendas, decision criteria, dashboards, and challenge questions — the operating manual for overseeing AI adoption.
Compliance Officers
Current guidance from FDIC, OCC, CFPB, Federal Reserve, and state agencies, with a regulatory reference and NIST AI RMF crosswalk.
IT & Technology Officers
The governance architecture, policy vocabulary, and documentation tools to translate technical risk into board language.
Internal Auditors
An AI audit program designed for community bank audit teams — practical, proportionate, and exam-ready.
Get the Handbook
One book. Four formats.
The personal copy — read anywhere on the Kindle app or device.
The working copy — 397 pages, built to be marked up.
The boardroom edition — casebound for the shelf that matters.
The desk edition — a hyperlinked, searchable PDF licensed for your whole institution.
