Welcome to the 2025 community banking research conference.1 While I regret that I cannot join you in person this year, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the contributions this conference has made and continues to make in promoting research on community banking and related issues. Since 2013, this conference has synthesized insights and perspectives from research and regulatory and banking communities with a single goal: deepening our understanding of the community bank business model in order to better inform future policy decisions. We share this goal, and the sponsorship of this event with the Conference ... (full story)