Denison University in Granville sounded warmer than her native Syracuse, New York—in terms of weather and friendliness—to Ilaria Rawlins when she was deciding where to attend college. Her initial plan was to study journalism and become a news anchor. A junior year economics class broadened her perspective.
“I thought it was fascinating,” Rawlins says, recalling the way she was intrigued by questions of how price is determined and how money moves. “I ended up getting a double major [in] communications and economics.”
A college internship at Park National Bank got her a toehold in the field of banking and ultimately helped her land a job at Household Bank upon her graduation in 1992. At the time, she considered it a stepping stone. “Landing in banking at that time felt very much like, ‘OK, this is a good first job out of college, but there’s no way I’m staying in banking for the rest of my life,’ ” says Rawlins, Columbus CEO’s 2025 CEO of the Year winner in the Small For-Profit category.
But life is full of unexpected twists, and more than 30 years later, Rawlins is still in the field. Today, she’s president and CEO of Fortuna Bank, which she opened with co-founder Lisa Berger in December 2024. The Grandview Heights financial institution, named for the Roman goddess of fortune, is the first (and only) majority women-owned bank in Ohio.
Fortuna is closing its first year with $42.5 million in assets, $22.5 million in deposits and $14.5 million in loans for the bank’s roughly 500 mostly commercial clients. Women investors account for 75 percent of Fortuna’s shareholders.
The CEO credits two roles with changing her perspective and preparing her to lead Fortuna. The first was working for the startup First Bexley Bank, where Rawlins was the first hire in 2006 after departing Ohio Savings Bank. Working for a small, community-based bank allowed her to wear a variety of hats and see what it took to grow a bank from the ground up.
When First Bexley was acquired in 2014 by First Financial Bank, Rawlins stayed on. She worked as a leader of the Columbus market, was promoted to oversee Ohio branches as retail region president and then was named retail bank president, leading a network of 140 offices and 700 associates across four states. She says these experiences gave her the knowledge and sharpened the skillset she would bring to Fortuna.
Even as she was working that demanding job, “In the back of my mind, I knew that I really loved community banking and being much closer to the client. … I just have much more of an entrepreneurial kind of spirit,” she says.
So when Berger—a client of Rawlins’ at First Bexley—called in 2021 with the idea of starting a women-owned bank, Rawlins was ready. “I knew that women-owned businesses are growing at two times the national average. I knew that women stand to inherit the majority of the great wealth transfer taking place. I also knew that female entrepreneurs are denied three times more often than their male counterparts for commercial loans.”
Berger, who chairs Fortuna’s board, says she chose Rawlins based on a trusting relationship the two had developed. In 2006, when Berger had just purchased AmeriTitle Downtown, Rawlins was her banker. “From the outset, I was so impressed with her attention to customer service and detail. I grew to trust her implicitly,” Berger says.
The two have much in common outside shared business interests. “Like me, she is one of three girls and has two daughters. She understands the challenges that women in the industry face, and she has always been an advocate for change in that arena,” Berger says, adding that her co-founder is “real, but is endlessly optimistic.”
She brings optimism to leadership, as well. “I would love to think that I lead … with empathy, and that I care more about the person first,” Rawlins says. She values her team of 12 at Fortuna and encourages aspiring CEOs to be strategic about who they bring into their organizations. “I definitely don’t know all the answers. … But if we all bring our strengths to the table, then together we’re much stronger.”
About Ilaria Rawlins
Founder, president and CEO, Fortuna Bank
In role since: 2022, including the “in organization” period
Age: 55
Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications and economics, Denison University
Community involvement: Volunteer with Denison University’s Executive-in-Residence program
This story is from the CEO of the Year package in the Winter 2026 issue of Columbus CEO. Subscribe now at subscribe.columbusceo.com.
This article originally appeared on Columbus CEO: CEO of the Year 2025 Winner Ilaria Rawlins Empowers Women at Fortuna Bank
Reporting by Linda Lee Baird, Columbus CEO / Columbus CEO
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
