[crazypyro]

>the culture will only be significantly different if everyone in your management chain is a developer themselves, right up to the CEO and board.

Couldn't agree with this more. At my current company, the COO and CTO are both developers, although the COO doesn't code anymore. The CTO is basically the most senior developer and developed the core solutions at the company. I mainly joined the company because I was able to talk to those two (along with my direct management) and I was extremely impressed in the interview phase at their (apparent) ability to maintain development skills and hold a conversation about weedy topics while also being at a 10,000 foot executive.

I could say more, but it'd probably give away my job. Basically, you can definitely find some "finance" companies where the at least the technical operations are run by devs/former devs.