# James S. 'Chip' Mahan III

> Chip Mahan is a Wilmington-based banker, entrepreneur and fintech investor. He is chairman and CEO of Live Oak Bancshares and Live Oak Bank, a co-founder of nCino, and a co-founder and managing partner of Canapi Ventures. His career connects early internet banking at Security First Network Bank with S1 and later cloud banking ventures.

- **Role:** Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Live Oak Bancshares and Live Oak Bank; Co-founder and Managing Partner at Canapi Ventures; Co-founder of nCino
- **Organizations:** Live Oak Bancshares, Live Oak Bank, nCino, Canapi Ventures, S1 Corporation, Security First Network Bank, Cardinal Bancshares, Citizens Union National Bank & Trust Co., Wachovia, Finxact, Payrailz
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in economics, Washington and Lee University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Security First Network Bank, one of the earliest internet-only banks., Led S1 as chairman and CEO., Founded and led Live Oak, a national small business lender.

## Career timeline

- **1973** — Graduated from Washington and Lee University and began his banking career at Wachovia.
- **1984** — Became chairman and CEO of Citizens Union National Bank & Trust Co.
- **1987** — Launched Cardinal Bancshares.
- **1992** — Took Cardinal Bancshares public.
- **1995** — Helped launch Security First Network Bank, an early internet-only bank; its technology business became S1.
- **1998** — Security First banking operations were sold to Royal Bank of Canada.
- **2006** — Moved to Wilmington after leaving S1.
- **2008** — Live Oak Bank commenced operations on May 12.
- **2012** — nCino began operating as a separate banking software company, emerging from Live Oak.
- **2015** — Live Oak Bancshares went public.
- **2018** — Co-founded Canapi Ventures with Gene Ludwig.
- **2019** — Received the Technology Association of Georgia FinTech Lifetime Achievement Award.
- **2024** — Received the Elon University Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership with Lee Williams.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Security First Network Bank, one of the earliest internet-only banks.
- Led S1 as chairman and CEO.
- Founded and led Live Oak, a national small business lender.
- Co-founded nCino, which emerged from Live Oak’s internally developed lending software.
- Co-founded Canapi Ventures.
- 2019 FinTech Lifetime Achievement Award from the Technology Association of Georgia.
- 2024 Elon University Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership, shared with Lee Williams.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Live Oak reported $1.5 billion of second-quarter loan originations; Mahan highlighted lending production, small-dollar originations and checking balance growth.
- **2026-04** — Live Oak reported first-quarter net income of $29.9 million and $1.37 billion in loan production.
- **2025-10** — Mahan appeared on episode 190 of The Art of SBA Lending, discussing industry specialization, incentives and potential uses of AI in SBA lending.

## Links

- Website: https://www.liveoak.bank/leadership/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chipmahan/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chip-mahan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21