Sarah Fankhauser

President and CEO DCI (Data Center Inc.)

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Sarah Fankhauser is President and CEO of DCI (Data Center Inc.), the Hutchinson, Kansas company that develops iCore360 core banking software and related digital banking technology for community financial institutions across the United States. DCI is unusual in its sector because it is privately owned by a group of its own bank clients, and Fankhauser came up through the same customer base. She started as a bank teller at a DCI client, joined DCI in 1993 training other banks on its core system, and spent the next quarter-century in support, product development and operations before becoming the company’s fifth chief executive in 2020. DCI describes her as the first woman to lead a major U.S. core banking provider.

Career Highlights

• President and CEO of DCI, and a member of its board of directors.
• Named DCI’s fifth Chief Executive Officer in July 2020, ahead of the planned succession schedule.
• Elected President and Chief Operating Officer by DCI’s board in April 2020, the first woman to hold the presidency in the company’s 57-year history.
• Chief Operating Officer from 2014 and Executive Vice President from a 2009 reorganisation.
• As Senior Vice President, headed DCI’s customer support and product development divisions.
• Credited by her predecessor with helping direct iCore360’s development and the company’s acquisitions.

Professional Journey

After graduating from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, Fankhauser began her career in banking as a teller at a large bank that was a DCI client, and worked her way up to Branch Operations Officer. In 1993 she moved to DCI itself as an Analyst/Instructor, training DCI’s client banks to use its core processing system.

Between 1995 and 2004 she was promoted several times, in a period that also saw changes in DCI’s senior management, and reached Senior Vice President in charge of customer support and product development. In a 2009 reorganisation under CEO John H. Jones she became Executive Vice President, and in 2014 she was named Chief Operating Officer. During those years DCI moved its core platform from legacy mainframe technology to iCore360, a cloud-based, API-driven core banking system. Jones credited Fankhauser with helping direct that work and DCI’s business acquisitions.

In April 2020 DCI’s board elected her President and COO at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, with a plan for her to take over as CEO when Jones retired in 2021. The handover came sooner. Jones chose to step down early as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, and in July 2020 DCI’s chairman, Keith Hughes, told clients that Fankhauser would become the company’s fifth CEO. Under the announced plan, Jones remained on the board and in an executive support role, overseeing the final phases of DCI’s new underground data center in Kansas City, until his retirement date of 15 October 2020.

As CEO she leads a company that serves community banks with core processing, digital and mobile banking, onboarding, card and ATM management, item processing and managed IT, and that remains owned by, and partly governed by, its bank clients. She also sits on DCI’s board. Outside work she has served on the board of Rise Up Reno County (Community That Cares), follows Kansas State University football and rides trail routes in Kansas and Colorado.

Education

Friends University, Wichita, Kansas

Degree and field not stated in the sources read.