James Sills, the new president and CEO of Mechanics & Farmers Bank, says that growing security threats will make experience in both financial services and technology more attractive to banks. "The bad guys are extremely sophisticated," Sills said. "They have some unbelievable tools to penetrate networks, databases and point-of-sale machines." In addition to maintaining web security, Sills will oversee implementation of M&F's huge conversion of its core processing system to Fiserv, a new platform that should help M&F expand into new product offerings. Sills succeeds Kim Saunders as president and CEO of the bank. Previously, Sills was the state of Delaware's chief information officer and secretary of the Delaware Department of Technology and Information.