Who we are
Established in early 2025, Stone Bridge Advisory Group, LLC introduces an innovative approach to meet the distinct needs of community banks amid intensifying regulatory oversight. Principal Jonathan Hughes, drawing on his background as a former bank examiner, identified a key market shortfall: these banks, constrained by limited resources, struggle with demands from agencies like the FDIC, OCC, and Federal Reserve. Essential to local economies, they deliver tailored lending, deposits, and aid to small businesses and families. Yet, compliance obligations often siphon resources from core functions, hindering innovation and expansion.
The firm's commitment is to simplify these burdens, enabling banks to prioritize community engagement and operational growth. In the current landscape, banks contend with shrinking profit margins, fintech rivalry, and economic volatility. Non-interest expenses—spanning technology, cybersecurity, and personnel—frequently surpass 60% of operating expenses for smaller entities, with regulatory compliance exacerbating the strain.
Central to Stone Bridge's value is fractional C-suite assistance, delivering expert leadership on a part-time or project basis without full-time costs. A Chief Risk Officer (CRO) assists in spotting and reducing broad risks; a Chief Credit Officer (CCO) ensures the loan portfolio is properly managed and diversified; an Information Security Officer (ISO) counters escalating cyber threats. This model proves ideal for community banks, avoiding expensive permanent positions.
Stone Bridge also shines in examination and audit support. These processes demand thorough documentation, internal assessments, and fixes; the firm facilitates preparation via mock examinations, response strategies, and follow-ups to reduce interruptions and fines. Utilizing best practices, Stone Bridge works to elevate examination ratings and strengthen regulator relationships.
Distinguishing the firm is its client-oriented ethos, customizing services to a bank's profile, e.g., rural ones with agricultural risks or urban banks with commercial real estate challenges. Jonathan Hughes emphasizes a collaborative approach, integrating advisors into client teams to build long-term partnerships rather than short-term consultations.
Stone Bridge Advisory Group, LLC is dedicated to empowering community banks to excel, preserving their community stature while mastering modern finance with poise and adaptability.
Meet the Principal
Jonathan Hughes's professional career spans more than a decade at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), where he has established himself as a leader in risk examination and regulatory oversight. Beginning as an intern in the Division of Consumer Protection in June 2011, Mr. Hughes participated in numerous compliance examinations and Fair Lending investigations. He joined the FDIC’s Division of Risk Management Supervision full time in 2012, earning his commission in Risk Management Supervision in 2016. Mr. Hughes served as a Senior Risk Examiner before beginning Stone Bridge Advisory Group, LLC in 2025. His experience spans from banks with total assets of as little as $11 million to as much as $460 billion.
A core aspect of Hughes's work involves complex and troubled financial institutions. He has led in-depth examinations and visitations, assessing management, asset quality, earnings, capital, liquidity, and market risk sensitivity. As examiner-in-charge for over 40 examinations and in a secondary leadership role in many more, he has covered a broad spectrum of bank sizes and complexities, including Safety and Soundness, Information Technology (IT), and Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) reviews.
Hughes has extensive experience in investigations, directing fraud, accounting, and operational probes to enforce sound banking practices and financial reporting. Notably, he supported the FDIC's Large Bank Division in Washington D.C., leading special projects, supporting fraud investigations, and providing risk mitigation initiatives for institutions over $10 billion. This included nationwide interest rate risk studies, where he analyzed the risk management capabilities of some of our nation’s largest financial institutions. His role required routine executive-level presentations to FDIC executives, distilling complex data into actionable insights that drove compliance enhancements and strategic decisions.
Selected for high-profile assignments, Hughes assisted in Shared National Credits reviews, evaluating large syndicated loans, and served as one of the FDIC's regional representatives on the Technical Evaluation Committee. In this capacity, he developed and evaluated test questions for the Risk Management Supervision division’s commissioning process, contributing to the agency's examiner certification standards.
Leadership defines Hughes's approach; he has managed teams of over 30 examiners from state and federal agencies across multiple states, fostering collaboration with the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and state regulators in multiple states, including Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, as well as Georgia and Washington.
During his career, Mr. Hughes served as a Coach to pre-commissioned examiners, demonstrating his commitment to training and knowledge transfer. His training initiatives ranged from informal on-the-job mentoring to formal regional sessions on IT, cybersecurity, corporate governance, and interest rate risk, strengthening examiner capabilities and promoting continuous improvement.
Complementing his experience, Hughes holds a Master's in Business Administration from University of Central Oklahoma and is a Certified Fraud Examiner. His numerous awards from the FDIC underscore his impact on regulatory excellence. Overall, Hughes's career reflects a commitment to empowering institutions through robust risk frameworks, making him a versatile asset in financial oversight.