Cross River Appoints Former Lazard Executive Evan L. Russo as President

CRB Group, Inc. has appointed Evan L. Russo as President of Cross River, effective October 1, 2026. For fintech professionals, this move signals a shift toward institutional maturity for a key infrastructure provider, as Russo brings heavyweight experience from Lazard to help scale a platform bridging traditional banking with digital assets and AI.

What was announced

The appointment of Evan L. Russo as President follows his tenure as Cross River’s Lead Independent Director, a role he has held since April 2026. In his new capacity, Russo will report directly to Gilles Gade, the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Cross River. While Russo will continue to serve on the Board of Directors, he will relinquish his Lead Independent Director title to Shimshon Gross, who has served on the board since the company’s inception in 2008.

Russo is tasked with partnering with Gade to accelerate growth and strengthen the company’s institutional operating model. His remit involves building the operational, financial, and governance capabilities required to support Cross River’s global expansion. The role focuses on establishing the company as a trusted infrastructure layer for payments, banking, digital assets, and AI-enabled financial services.

Russo joins the executive team with more than two decades of experience across investment banking, capital markets, and asset management. He previously served as CEO of Lazard Asset Management and CFO of Lazard Ltd. and Lazard Group. His career also includes positions in the Investment Banking Divisions of Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital, as well as a period as a corporate attorney at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a BA from Queens College.

"Technology is revolutionizing how money moves around the globe, but it still moves through regulated infrastructure, which requires leaders who have built and led significant global financial institutions. As we enter this next chapter, Evan and I will bring complementary strengths to the path ahead. I will continue to focus on our vision for the future of financial infrastructure, our technology, and strategic partnerships, while Evan brings the institutional leadership, strategic focus and operating discipline required to scale that vision. Together, we are building the leadership structure and capabilities to capture the significant opportunity ahead for Cross River."

Gilles Gade, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Cross River.

The companies involved

Cross River is a technology infrastructure platform that provides embedded financial solutions, serving as a regulated "trust anchor" for global banking and money movement. The company is a subsidiary of CRB Group, Inc. and has positioned itself at the intersection of traditional financial services and modern technology, offering the connectivity required for programmable and AI-enabled financial products.

The firm operates by combining a regulated banking foundation with a proprietary technology stack, allowing it to power payments and digital asset services for a wide range of fintech partners. Unlike many technology-only providers, Cross River’s status as a regulated bank allows it to manage the full lifecycle of financial transactions. This model has made it a central player in the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) ecosystem, where it provides the underlying rails for consumer-facing financial applications. The company has maintained a consistent presence in the market as a bridge between the agility of fintech and the compliance requirements of the regulated financial system.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Cross River’s expansion through 23 previous reports, highlighting its role in major credit facilities and consumer payment integrations. In August 2026, the publication covered how inKind Secures $414 Million Financing Led by Citi and Cross River to Scale Restaurant Funding, a deal that showcased the bank's ability to lead large-scale financing rounds alongside Tier 1 institutions like Citi.

Earlier, in July 2026, FF News reported on a high-profile move into social media payments when Cross River and X Launch X Money: The First Integrated P2P Payments Experience for U.S. Social Media. This partnership established Cross River as the infrastructure provider for X’s entry into the peer-to-peer payments market, further cementing its position as a preferred partner for large-scale digital platforms.

What this means

This appointment marks a significant "Wall Street-ification" of the fintech infrastructure sector. By recruiting a former Lazard CEO, Cross River is signaling to regulators and institutional partners that it is moving beyond the agile startup phase and into a period of rigorous corporate governance. The move puts pressure on other BaaS and embedded finance providers who may lack the same level of institutional leadership or regulatory depth. As financial activity becomes increasingly global and AI-driven, the industry is facing a reckoning: tech prowess is no longer sufficient. The market now demands a marriage of Silicon Valley innovation and traditional banking discipline, raising the bar for any firm acting as a bridge to the regulated financial system.