First Busey Appoints Christopher Chan as CFO

First Busey Corporation announced it has named Christopher Chan as its next Chief Financial Officer, effective September 30. Photo credit: Shutterstock (TippaPatt).

Posted September 29, 2025

First Busey Corporation announced it has appointed a new chief financial officer who will occupy their new role at the Leawood headquarters.

The company announced that Christopher Chan will be its new CFO, effective September 30. Chan will also serve as CFO of First Busey Corporation as well as Busey Bank, the company’s banking subsidiary, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Chan will be relocating to the Busey Bank headquarters in Leawood. 

Chan joins the company, having previously held the position of executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Pittsburgh-based First National Bank for over six years. First National Bank is a subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation. Chan has also held positions at Balyasny Asset Management, Citadel Global Equities and Morgan Stanley, according to his LinkedIn profile.

As part of the employment agreement, Chan will receive a base salary of $600,000. Additionally, he will receive a one-time signing bonus of $500,000 and a relocation payment of $400,000.

Scott Phillips has been the interim CFO since February, when the former CFO of Busey Bank, Jeff Jones, announced his resignation. Phillips will resume his duties as chief accounting officer following Chan’s arrival.

First Busey Corporation officially closed its $917 million acquisition of Leawood-based CrossFirst Bankshares Inc. in March. CrossFirst’s former CEO, Mike Maddox, is now the president and CEO of Busey Bank. CEO of First Busey, Van Dukeman, plans to pass on his position to Maddox sometime next year.