Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University

2025 FACULTY

The 2025 faculty of the Graduate School of Banking consists of experienced bankers, academicians, regulatory officials, attorneys and others who have expert knowledge of their subject areas and who have the ability to teach other professionals. Approximately fifty-one faculty teach at the School, and some have been associated with the program for many years. Faculty and courses are critically evaluated to assure that banker-students receive the best possible professional education.

Experienced
Bankers
and Experts

Mike Allen

Recently retired, Mike founded Three B’s Advisors, LLC with the purpose of utilizing his 45 years of banking/credit expertise and experience to assist other financial institutions in the areas of Credit/Risk Management including policy/procedures, classified/criticized loan remediation, loan review, portfolio due diligence for M&A, credit training and Leadership training.  Prior to retirement, Mike served as EVP, Area Credit Executive at Cadence Bank in Gainesville, GA. providing credit support to the Georgia Region and the bank’s CRE team of the newly merged company.  Prior to the October 2021 merger with Bancorp South, Mike served as EVP, Director of Real Estate Credit Risk for Cadence Bank.  Prior to the January 2019 merger with Cadence Bank, Mike served as EVP, Senior Credit Officer of State Bank and Trust Company in Atlanta.  He also served as Director of Special Assets Division of State Bank. Mike’s banking experience spans 45 years, having worked with several banks in various capacities including retail, consumer, commercial, troubled asset remediation and credit.

Mike served on the Credit Committee for the Georgia Bankers Association, where he also serves as an instructor leading seminars on loan documentation, analyzing financial statements, business cash flow and asset-based lending.  He also served on the Georgia Bankers Association Graduate Banking School Board of Directors.  He is also a member of the faculty at the University of Georgia Banking School sponsored by the Georgia Bankers Association.  Mike is also a member of the faculty at the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University where he teaches Troubled Asset Resolution.  He is a 1991 graduate of the school.  He was the 2017 recipient of the T. Eugene Spragens President’s award, an award presented annually by the Graduate School of Banking at LSU to an outstanding faculty member.  Mike also serves as President of GSBLSU and is a member of the Executive Committee.  Mike is an accomplished presenter and speaker, having conducted many seminars, workshops and been an invited guest speaker at Georgia Bankers Association, Alabama Bankers Association and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta programs.  He is a member of Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville.  He has served in numerous capacities with United Way.  Mike is a former Board Member of the Greater Hall County Chamber of Commerce and served as Vice Chairman of the South Hall Business Coalition.  He attended Georgia College and State University from 1976-1978 where he received a BBA and from 1980-1982 where he received an MBA.

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Paul Allen is a shareholder in the Financial Institutions Advisory Group of Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund and the shareholder in charge of the firm’s Orlando office. He has over 25 years of public accounting and senior management experience, primarily serving financial institutions. Prior to joining Saltmarsh, Paul worked with an international accounting firm and served in various senior management roles with several financial institutions, including Chief Financial Officer.

Paul has extensive experience advising clients on accounting and financial reporting matters, enterprise risk management, asset liability management, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning. He has served on several boards, and serves on the Faculty of various banking schools, including the Florida Bankers Association Florida School of Banking at University of Florida, the Iowa School of Banking, the North Carolina School of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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Jeanne Applegate has over 35 years of experience in the banking industry and has worked exclusively with Consumer Protection and Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering laws and regulations since 1991. She is currently the BSA Senior Director for Arvest Bank, a $26 billion dollar bank operating in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas. She has served as the Managing Director for BSA/AML Compliance Services at Professional Bank Services in Louisville, Kentucky and as the Chief Compliance and BSA Officer for BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Jeanne also worked for the FDIC in the Dallas Region as a Senior Compliance Examiner and Review Examiner. She has been a member of the faculty at the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University since 1998.  Jeanne is a graduate of Northeastern State University with a degree in Finance.  She is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

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Michael Bryant is Executive Officer at Southern Bank, Rocky Mount, NC for 24 years and helped the Bank grow from $600 million to $5.0 billion. He attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985 and immediately started his banking career and is approaching his 39th year in the industry.

Carl Chaney has been Executive Chairman of Beach Community Bank since July 2018. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of First NBC Bank and First NBC Bank Holding Company since February 2017, and he has been President of First NBC Bank and First NBC Bank Holding Company since April 2017. He also serves as Vice-Chairman at JTS Capital Group, and he is Executive Chairman of BCB Capital Group. He has been the President of Hancock Bank of Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama since December 2008. Mr. Chaney has been President of Hancock Bank since December 2008 and also serves as its Chief Executive Officer. He has been an Executive Vice President at Hancock Bank (Gulfport, MS) since 2001.

Carl has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the banking and financial services sector with a proven track record of building high-performing businesses. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Hancock Bank (Gulfport, MS) from 1998 to March 2007. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Hancock Whitney Corporation (formerly, Hancock Holding Company) and Hancock Whitney Bank from 2006–2014. He served as President of Hancock Holding Company from 2008–2014. He served as an Executive Vice President of Hancock Bank and Hancock Holding Co. from 2001–2008. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Hancock Holding, Co. and Hancock Bank from 1998–2007. Mr. Chaney served as Senior Vice President of Hancock Holding Co. and Hancock Bank from 1999–2001. Prior to joining Hancock Holding Company, he served as Partner and Director of the law firm, Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P.A. in Jackson Mississippi from 1995–1998, where he specialized in Investment Banking and Merger and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry.

He has served as a Director at the Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta since 2012; Mississippi Power Co. since 2009; Hancock Bank of Florida since 2003; and Hancock Bank of Alabama since 2007. He served as Director of Hancock Holding Company from 2006 –2014. He is a University of Mississippi honors graduate with banking and finance degree and a Juris doctor.

A faculty member at the Mississippi School of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, Carl received the Eugene Spragens President’s Award for teaching excellence from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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Harvey Church is the President and Chief Operating Officer for TriStar Bank. The President and Chief Operating Officer is responsible for the growth and profit of the retail business line, branch network, and all initiatives to assure successful service delivery and strategy success. Responsibilities of the position include deposit and lending services, new product research and development, customer service and delivery systems, associate enrichment, education and training, performance management, annual cost/benefit analysis of existing products, preparation of detailed reports for committee and board meetings and related regulatory compliance.

Harvey graduated from LSU Graduate School of Banking in 2009, and he holds degrees from Union University, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University. Harvey attended Cannon Trust School as well as Stone Mountain Leadership classes for key Executives. An Eagle Scout and lifetime member of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), Harvey serves on the BSA executive board. Other interests in the community include serving on the Maury County Chamber and Economic Alliance, Leadership Middle Tennessee, Kiwanis Club, Columbia State Foundation, Columbia Main Street and the James K. Polk Association.

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Jimmy Clarkson received his BA degree in Economics from Clemson University in 1973, and he graduated from the School of Banking of the South (now GSB@LSU) in 1985. Jimmy began his banking career with the National Bank of South Carolina in Sumter, S. C. In 1973. He later served as Vice President and City Executive Officer for Horry County National Bank/Southern National Bank in Loris, S.C. from 1980 – 1987. He then joined the organizational team of Horry County State Bank in Loris, S.C in 1987 and served as President, CEO and Director of the bank and its holding company, HCSB Financial Corp. until his retirement in December, 2016.

Jimmy is a past director of the South Carolina Bankers Association and the Independent Banks of South Carolina, and he served as a director of Horry Telephone Cooperative, Inc. in Conway, S.C. for over 25 years. He served as a BancExec instructor with the South Carolina Bankers School (SCBS) for 35 years and also served as a Course Coordinator for 25 years in addition to serving as Chairman and Director of SCBS. Jimmy has served as a BankSim instructor since 2001.

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Dr. Brandon Cline, Ph.D., is the John “Nutie” and Edie Dowdle Professor of Finance. His research focuses on insider trading, executive compensation, equity offerings, and corporate governance. His work has been published in numerous finance journals, including Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, Financial Management, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, The Journal of Financial Research, and European Financial Management. Dr. Cline has received invitations to present his work at prestigious conferences such as the American Finance Association. He has also received various research awards including the 2014 Wharton School-WRDS Outstanding Paper in Empirical Research, the 2012 Journal of Financial Research Outstanding Article Award, the 2010 Eastern Finance Association Outstanding Paper Award, the 2009 Eastern Finance Association Outstanding Paper Award, the 2008 Southern Finance Association’s Outstanding Paper Award in Corporate Finance, and the 2017 Mississippi State College of Business Faculty Research Award. His research has also been the subject of feature stories in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Radio, NPR’s The Hidden Brain, FoxBusiness, CNNMoney, Reuters, RealClearMarkets, NPR’s All Things Considered, and the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Prior to joining Mississippi State, Dr. Cline taught at Clemson University, West Virginia University, and The University of Alabama. Dr. Cline has served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU since 2016 and the Southeastern School of Banking since 2020. He is also a Past-President of the Southern Finance Association.

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David Coyle is a Senior Consultant with Bankers Service Corporation in Lexington, KY. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Kentucky and he served as Director of the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions. David has served as an instructor for Graduate School of Banking at LSU BankSim program for over 20 years.

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Stephen David is Capital Region Market President of Synergy Bank in New Roads, Louisiana. He is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and he completed the Graduate School of Banking at LSU (GSBLSU) in 1990. Stephen is Past President/Chairman of the Louisiana Bankers Association (LBA), and he is the current State Chairman of Governmental Affairs for LBA. He has served the American Bankers Association (ABA) through the Governmental Affairs Council and Membership Council. He is a Past Chairman of Parish Chamber of Commerce; Past President of Parish Catholic School System; and active volunteer in coaching, with over 20 former players earning Athletic Scholarships in various sports. Stephen was a member of the GSBLSU Board of Trustees from 2000-2004, and he served as the GSBLSU President & Executive Committee Member from 2005-2011. He has served as an instructor for the GSBLSU BankSim program for over 25 years.

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Dave DeFazio

John Douglas is the Outreach Director in the Supervision and Regulation Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. John joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in May 2004 as a Senior Examiner and has served in roles with increasing responsibilities. He was promoted to Director in 2013 and has managed teams of specialized examiners within the Reserve Bank and throughout the Federal Reserve System. He has served as an instructor in the Federal Reserve’s Examiner Commissioning Program and Foreign Technical Assistance (FTA) program having taught market and liquidity risk topics at central banks in India, Panama, and Uruguay. A native of Greenville, SC, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University with a Communication Studies major and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University with a concentration in Finance. He is a 2024 graduate from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU and is a CFA® charterholder. He captains his neighborhood men’s ALTA tennis team who won City Finals in 2020.

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Dr. T. Selwyn Ellis is a distinguished academic and professional known for his contributions to fields of Information Systems and Data Analytics. He earned his D.B.A. in Quantitative Analysis from Louisiana Tech University in 1993. He has held academic positions at Mississippi College, Ouachita Baptist University, and Louisiana Tech University.  He is currently the Balsley-Whitmore Endowed Professor at Louisiana Tech where he chairs the Department of Computer Information Systems and is the Director of the Center for Information Assurance.

Dr. Ellis has served on the Monroe, LA regional board of directors at Bancorp South (Cadence). Additionally, he currently serves on the board of Fuse. Cloud, an Information Technology company located in Jackson, MS that provides managed IT services, telecommunication, and connectivity solutions for businesses. Beyond academia, Dr. Ellis is an avid tennis player and a member of Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, LA.

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Jody Elmore is retired from Banking after 40 years in the industry. Her last position was as Chief Compliance Officer of Georgia Banking Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, she served as President for two other banks in Alabama. She started her career during High School at Valley National Bank in Lanett, Alabama.

Jody received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from Auburn University. She is an alumnae of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU and the Professional Masters of Banking at LSU/Alex Sheshunoff, Inc.   Jody is a former Trustee of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, and she has been a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU for 25 years.

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Cal Evans serves as Synovus’ Senior Director of Investor Relations and Market Intelligence. His primary responsibility for Investor Relations is managing the communication between executive management and the Synovus investors. In Market Intelligence, he is responsible for determining how market factors influence CRE and C&I lending. Prior to joining Synovus in 2008, Cal worked as a commercial real estate appraiser and private consultant in the Athens, Georgia area. He earned his BBA in economics in 1997 and his MBA in 2005, both at the University of Georgia. While completing the MBA program, Cal taught both undergraduate and graduate level finance at the Terry College of Business at UGA. He is a faculty member at the UGA/GBA Graduate School of Banking and the LSU Graduate School of Banking where he teaches real estate markets and finance. He serves as a CRE market advisor for the Georgia Association of Assessing Officials and as a member of the Atlanta ULI Capital Markets Committee. At Synovus, Cal serves as the chair of the company’s Economic Advisory Council and Economic Forecasting Committee, as well as a regulatory liaison to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank on economic and commercial real estate matters. He conducts ongoing educational programs for several governmental, real estate, and business enterprises, and locally serves as the treasurer for the Historic Columbus, Georgia Foundation.

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Rachel Fischer joined Wilson Bank and Trust in 2022 as the Chief Risk Officer. In this role, she is responsible for the design, development and implementation of the Risk framework which includes the risk appetite and ensuring all risks generated by the firm’s businesses are measured, reviewed, and monitored on an ongoing basis. She provides leadership and strategic oversight to the bank’s risk management teams responsible for the Audit Program, regulatory compliance program, Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance, Physical security, Information security, business continuity, vendor management, model risk and fraud mitigation.

Rachel has almost 11 years of banking, risk, and data governance experience. Prior to joining the Wilson Bank and Trust team, she served as the Senior Vice President, Director of Data, Model and Cyber Risk Governance at a midsize bank where she established a mature model risk program and implemented vision and strategy for data management, data governance and enhanced cybersecurity. As the Director, she championed improving data culture, data literacy, and data science by leading the Bank’s Data Camp initiative.

Rachel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Eastern Washington University and a Master of Science degree from Portland State University. Rachel received her Financial Risk Manager credentials from GARP. Rachel is an active member of the TBA risk forum and served as Board Member and Enterprise Risk

Management Chair of the Portland Risk Management Association Chapter.

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Rita Floyd is retired as Director of Organizational Development for Trustmark National Bank in Jackson, Mississippi. She worked in banking for 38 years in various capacities, but the major portion of this time in the Human Resources field. Her previous role involved directing the Learning and Development function which encompassed Career Coaching, Team Effectiveness and Assessment Services, Talent Management, Succession Planning, Performance Management, 360 Degree Multi-rater Feedback, Mentorship and Training.

Rita now extends her work in learning and development beyond the walls of Corporate America by serving as an Adjunct Professor at Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi and at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi. In addition, Rita also teaches at the Mississippi School of Banking, at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi and the Southeastern School of Banking at Belmont University, Nashville, TN. She joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU in 2019.

Rita received her Master’s Degree in Human Resources from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and she was chosen by the Mississippi Business Journal as one of the 50 leading Business Women in 2009. Rita is a 2004 graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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Chris Hargrove-Managing Director at FORVIS Capital Advisors, LLC. Chris was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of ProBank Austin before their sale to FORVIS in 2022. He specializes in advising financial institutions on mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and capital planning strategies. He has represented over 500 institutions as their investment banker and advisor since 1985 and is a frequent speaker on seminars regarding mergers, acquisitions, and capital planning. Chris has an M.A. and B.B.A. degree in Finance. Chris has been a
member of the faculty at Louisiana State University’s Graduate School of Banking for more than twenty-five years.

Gary Higgins was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America. Over his 29 year career, Gary served as a Business Control Executive Global Technology & Operations, Risk & Stability Executive for Countrywide Transition, Credit Review Examiner, Audit Director, Portfolio Review Executive, and Risk Executive for the Change Performance Center at Bank of America.

Gary is a graduate of Radford University and he currently serves on the faculty of the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management at UVA. He has also served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking for a decade.

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Dr. Mike Highfield is the Provost and Executive Vice President at Mississippi College. He earned his BBA and MBA from Mississippi State University and later earned his MS in Economics and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Kentucky. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) designation from the CFA Institute, the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP®) designation from the Association for Financial Professionals, and the Chartered Banking Professional (ChBP®) designation from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

A former faculty member at Louisiana Tech University (2002-2005) and Mississippi State University (2005-2023), Mike served as the Department Head of Finance and Economics (2009-2018). With a teaching emphasis in corporate finance, financial modeling, mortgage lending, and real estate investments, Mike’s research has appeared in Financial Management, the Journal of Corporate Finance, Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and the Journal of Real Estate Research, among others.

Mike served as a faculty member for the Mississippi School of Banking (2005-2015), he serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU (2011-present), and he is the Senior Academic Consultant/VP for Curriculum at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU (2017-Present). He is also an active volunteer (2004-Present) for the CFA Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mike is a past president (2017-2018) of the American Real Estate Society (ARES) and he served as a member of the ARES Foundation Board of Directors (2017-2023) and the Southern Finance Association Board of Directors (2000-2023).

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Don Hillbish is Senior Vice President Business Risk Manager for Atlantic Union Bank. He has worked in the banking and financial services sector for more than 20 years in various leadership and management roles including call center management, retail banking, business banking, commercial credit, credit risk review and business risk management. Don has served in leadership roles in various community organizations such as Chambers of Commerce, Business Associations, Advisory Boards (Goodwill), and Boy Scouts of America.

Don holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Leadership Studies from the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, where he was elected as Richmond College Student Government Association President, and received a Master of Science degree in Business Finance from Virginia Commonwealth University. A 2015 graduate of the Virginia Bankers Association School of Bank Management, he was recognized as the “Honor Student” (Valedictorian) of his class and was chosen by his peers to serve at the Class President. Don was elected Class President of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, where he graduated in 2018.

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Jody Hudgins is the Senior Executive Vice President and Regional Chief Credit Officer for First Foundation Bank (Irvin, CA) by acquisition of First Florida Integrity Bank in December 2021, where he has served since 2012. His banking career spans over 40 years and includes service as President and CEO of banks in Alabama and Florida for most of his career. Prior to joining First Florida, Jody served as Executive Vice President and Florida Executive for First National Bank of Pennsylvania, overseeing all lending functions in Florida.

Jody began his banking career in 1977 and joined SouthTrust Bank in Decatur, AL as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1986. In 1990, Mr. Hudgins became President and Chief Executive Officer of SouthTrust Bank in Sarasota, FL. In 1991, he joined West Coast Bank in Sarasota as President and Chief Executive Officer which later became First National Bank of Florida, where he served for 14 years.

Jody attended Carson-Newman College, where he received a degree in mathematics. In 1982, he graduated from the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Retail Bank Management. For over twenty-five years, Jody has served as an instructor at the Florida School of Banking at the University of Florida, teaching courses in Personal Financial Analysis, Commercial Lending, Loan Policy and Review and Bank Simulation. In 2016, Jody was elected to the Charter Review Board for Sarasota County, FL. He is President of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU (GSBLSU), and he has served on the faculty at the GSBLSU for the past 14 years.  In 2019, Jody was appointed by the Supreme Court of Florida to serve on the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar.  The Florida Bar Board of Governors regulate the 110,000 plus practicing attorneys in the state of Florida.

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Jeff Hudson recently retired from FirstBank where he served as West Tennessee President.  He was also co-founder of Enterprise National Bank in Memphis which opened in 1990 and sold in 2004.  There, Jeff served as Executive Vice President and Senior Lending Officer as well as being a member of the bank’s board of directors.  Jeff has over 40 years lending experience.  Currently he serves as a member of the First National Banker’s Bank team and works primarily in the Tennessee market.

Jeff graduated from LSU Graduate School of Banking in 1999 and holds a BBA in Business from the University of Mississippi.  He served as a director of the Tennessee Banker’s Association and was a past Chairman of the Southeast School of Commercial Lending.  He now serves on the TBA’s Government Relations Committee.

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Terry Hughes is the Director of Special Projects for the Florida Bankers Association.  Her professional banking journey began in Starkville, Mississippi, where she worked as a commercial lender and project manager for National Bank of Commerce of Mississippi (now Cadence Bank.)

Ms. Hughes then transitioned to a consulting role, joining Holloway & Associates as a senior lending consultant. During her 18-year tenure with the firm, she advised financial institutions on lending practices, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency.

Her career path then led her to regulatory oversight when she joined the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. As Bureau Chief, Ms. Hughes was responsible for the regulatory supervision of Florida-chartered banks, non-depository trust companies, and international banking companies within the state.  She also has federal regulatory experience with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Dr. Dave Kohl is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Finance and Small Business Management & Entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech University. He taught in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department for 25 years.

Dave currently energizes agricultural lenders, producers, and business people with his keen insight into the agricultural industry gained through extensive travel, research, and exposure during his career. He has traveled over 10 million miles in his career; conducted more than 6,500 workshops and seminars for agricultural audiences; published more than 2,250 articles; and writes for many leading publications. Dave was recently inducted into the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Hall of Fame, and his personal involvement with agriculture and interaction with key industry players provide a unique perspective into future trends of the agricultural industry and economy.

Dave received his associate’s degree from Jefferson Community College, bachelor’s degree from Oswego State University, and his graduate degrees at Cornell University. He has received 11 major teaching awards while educating more than 10,000 students. He also earned 25 major extension and public service awards from Virginia Tech, Cornell University, and state and national organizations. Dave is a two-time recipient of the prestigious American Agricultural Economics Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award, one of only five professors in the 100-year history of the association to receive the award twice.

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Mark Krawczyk has over forty years of management experience in banking, corporate and municipal finance, treasury operations, and human resources. Mark is the principal and owner of his own firm, CZYK & Associates. Through his company, Mark provides a unique insight into the workings of treasury operations, change management strategies, ACH applications, and financial/ treasury management strategies to clients and audiences around the country. Through numerous writings, lectures, seminars and speaking engagements, Mark brings a unique, insightful and, many times, humorous perspective to a number of issues facing corporate America today. He is actively sought as an entertaining and informative conference keynote speaker.

Mark received both his undergraduate degree and MBA in Finance from Oklahoma State University. He currently serves as the Director of Finance for the City of Hermiston, Oregon. He is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP), has twice served on the Board of Directors of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), and has served as a faculty member for the Graduate School of Banking at LSU for over 20 years.

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Guy Labbe’ is serving in his second year as instructor assistant in the Senior Bank Management Simulation program. His involvement with the school began much early. He is a 2000 Graduate of GSBS, has served two two-year terms as Trustee to the school for the State of Louisiana, and participated in Bank Sim for the last several years as a judge during final presentations.

Guy graduated from LSU in 1980 with a BS in Finance. From 1985 -1991, he was employed with a consulting firm providing guidance to community banks who were in the process of failing, required assistance to comply with regulatory orders and/or required to augment capital. During the end of this period, his work consisted largely in the representation of banks in the process of acquired failed institutions.

In 1991 he took a position with the local bank in the community in which he grew up. His focus throughout his banking career was to increase shareholder value by maximizing earnings, proper management and leverage of equity capital, and strategic planning. As CFO he led the bank through the financial aspects and regulatory and shareholder approval processes for one branch bank acquisition and two whole bank acquisitions and resulting mergers As CEO and member of the Board of Directors, he provided guidance and direction in a successful transaction in a sale of the bank to a larger local institution.

Guy has been employed for the last five years in a senior consulting role with a community bank in south Louisiana concentrating once again on efficiency, profitability, leverage of capital, and strategic goals. He enjoys the flexibility of his current position and contributing at a high level to the success of the bank.

Guy and his wife, Althea, currently live in and enjoy the food, music, and culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. They enjoy the outdoors, travel and grandchildren.

Dr. Steve Lacewell is the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor of Finance and Director of the Center for Banking and Finance at Murray State University. Steve previously worked as a National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and he served as an executive officer and commercial lender for two banks.  Dr. Lacewell was the recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Professor Award and the 2012 Max Carmen Outstanding Teacher Award, the two highest awards that can be bestowed by a faculty member at Murray State University.  Steve created the Area in Finance with a Commercial Bank Management option at Murray State in the spring of 2016. It contains up to 21 course hours of bank-specific classes including compliance, lending, counter-threat finance, intro to banking, and advanced bank management.

He earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Tennessee at Martin, his MBA with a concentration in Finance from Murray State University, and a M.S. in Finance and a Ph.D. in Finance with minors in Economics and Statistics from Mississippi State University. Steve teaches the first year course in Asset-Liability Management at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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John Land retired in 2020 after a 33-year career with the FDIC’s Division of Risk Management Supervision.  His most recent position was Senior Case Manager in the FDIC’s Dallas Regional Office.  His career included five years at the FDIC headquarters in Washington, DC.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from LSU and an MBA from Baylor University. He completed the Graduate School of Banking at LSU in 1998, and he serves as an instructor for the third-year BankSim program.

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Angie Lewis  is the Chief Banking Officer for BankSouth, a leading community bank headquartered at Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia, and recognized as a top-performing bank nationwide. With over $1 billion in assets, BankSouth serves customers with branches in Atlanta, Greensboro, Savannah, Watkinsville, and beyond. Lewis joined BankSouth in 2024 after working with Synovus where she held several executive level positions within the brand, including President/CEO of Citizens First Bank, Northwest Georgia Division CEO, Group Executive of Community Banking, and Executive Director of Enterprise Risk.

Lewis brings a multi-disciplinary background. She has earned designations as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Enterprise Risk Professional (CERP). Angie is a graduate of Berry College and the Graduate School of Banking at LSU. She is very involved in community service activities and has served as President of the Rome Junior Service League, Chair of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority.  Angie currently serves on the Berry College Board of Trustees.

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Anthony McGill has enjoyed a diverse and varied career in financial services. He most recently served as executive vice president of U.S. Bank’s Consumer Lending Division where he led the growth of several lines of business including Indirect Lending, Direct Lending, Consumer Loan and Lease Operations, Retail Collections and Asset Re-Marketing. Assets under management totaled $67 billion during his tenure. Other responsibilities during his 19-year career with U.S. Bank included 4.5 years leading a mortgage line of business with $15 billion in loans outstanding, and 12 years as Chief Financial Officer of Consumer Lending. Prior to U.S. Bank, Anthony served as a banking consultant with Deloitte & Touche, and as an analyst with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Additionally, he was a member of the Consumer Bankers Association’s Home Equity Committee from 2007-2013.

Since 2014, Anthony now focuses his time serving as an independent consultant working with state and regional banking schools to educate future bank leaders.  He has been on the bank management simulation faculty of Pacific Coast Banking School since 2003 and, since 2016, serves as Director of the Bank Management Simulation Program.  Since 2017 he has provided operational and curricular support for the Bank Management Simulation Program at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.  In 2021, he began serving as Co-Coordinator of the Bank Management Simulation Program.  He is lead instructor for the Ohio Bankers League’s Bank Management School, serving in that capacity since 2016.  Additionally, he is lead instructor with the Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s Advanced School of Banking, serving in that capacity beginning in 2020.

Anthony holds two undergraduate degrees from Illinois State University, an MBA in Finance from DePaul University and is a 2002 graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School.

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Paul Oberkirch is the Chief Executive Officer for First National Bank & Trust and has over twenty-five years of experience in commercial lending with three large regional financial institutions and two smaller community banks.  He began his career in 1995 with Compass Bank as a commercial loan officer before moving to Union Planters Bank as a Senior Commercial Relationship Manager until 2004.  He then took the position of Head of Commercial Lending with First Community Bank.  In 2012, Paul assumed the role of Market President with Bank of the Ozarks.  Paul assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer with First National Bank & Trust in 2018, before being promoted to his current position in 2020.  Paul has a B.S. in finance and an M.B.A. from the University of South Alabama.  Paul has been an adjunct instructor for the University of South Alabama, teaching classes in business finance and personal finance, and also teaches at the Alabama Banking School.

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Anne Osborne, Business Strategy Officer, Bank Independent.  She joined the Bank July 1, 2022, as an Operations Analyst, gaining operational exposure in IT and Loan Processing. Prior, she gained critical experience in both technical and financial services. She worked for over five years as a Bank Examiner with the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions in Nashville, Tennessee. She lived in New York City for five years where she last worked at a technology start up, Yext, and previously in financial services at Globe Tax Services. She also gained roving teller experience from Bank Independent and had internships at UBS and State Street Bank while in college.

Anne graduated from Furman University in 2010 with a bachelor’s in business administration and from the LSU Graduate School of Banking in 2024 with the added honor of her team winning the bank management simulation. She is now part of the 2026 class of ABA B2L Executive Leadership Program.

Anne Osborne brings a unique combination of a strong regulatory background, an understanding of bank business models, a deep institutional knowledge of Bank Independent as an organization, and a willingness to take on challenges.

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John Oxford is Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President for Renasant Corporation in Tupelo, Mississippi — the parent company of Renasant Bank, with assets of approximately $12.9 billion, 2,500 employees and more than 190 locations in the Southeastern United States.

John will tell you that he didn’t choose marketing, it chose him. At age 17, John found his first job as a taste tester and commercial viewer for Nabisco. Taste-testing snacks and watching commercials may seem like a sweet gig, but a young man can only eat so many Nutter Butters and Oreos. John decided to put his professional career in the ad world on hold, opting for college instead. Prior to joining Renasant, Oxford served in the administration of President George W. Bush as a Legislative Assistant and Public Affairs Aide to the Executive Office of the President. Oxford is also a former commercial spokesperson for Cellular South (now C Spire Wireless), the largest privately owned mobile phone network in the U.S.

John earned his BA in communication and a minor in Political Science from the University of Tennessee, and he earned his MA in Government from Johns Hopkins University. He holds the Certified Financial Marketing Professional designation from the Institute of Certified Bankers at Northwestern University

John was named Top 40 under 40 in Mississippi in 2007 by the Mississippi Business Journal, and he is co-chair of the ABA’s Marketing Conference Board. John often lectures at marketing, banking and business conferences, He is an instructor at the Mississippi Banker Association’s School of Banking at Ole Miss as well as at the American Bankers Association’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU in 2020 where he teaches the freshman required course on Bank Marketing.

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 Dr. Thomas Payne is the Dean of the College of Business at Tennessee Tech University. As dean, Tom is the college’s senior academic and administrative officer, provides leadership and vision, and sets the college’s strategic, operational, and financial direction. The college serves 1,500 business majors across ten undergraduate and two graduate programs. The college also houses the Student Success Center, Professional Readiness and Leadership Center, iCube Innovation Center, and the Tennessee Tech Small Business Development Center in partnership with the Upper Cumberland Development District. Under his leadership, the college has expanded student experiential learning opportunities, built public-private partnerships across the banking and financial services, manufacturing, information technology, supply chain, and healthcare sectors, and expanded undergraduate and graduate programs – including the MBA and the Master of Accountancy.

Dr. Payne has published dozens of journal articles and taught thousands of university students and banking professionals. He served as a visiting professor at the University of Orléans (France), partnered with the Financial Services Volunteer Corporation to assist the Savings Bank of Albania during its privatization, and hosted a management program in less turbulent times for Russian bank executives. Dr. Payne has provided hundreds of presentations at conferences and professional banking schools, including the Tennessee Bankers Association Southeastern School of Banking, the Florida and Georgia Schools of Banking, and the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, where he received the 2013 Eugene Spragens president’s award for teaching excellence.

Active in the profession and the community, Tom is VP of Programs and serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Business Administration Association, the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Management (SAM), the Upper Cumberland Workforce Development Board, and the Friends of Scouting Leadership Team. Dr. Payne leads AACSB accreditation peer review teams and co-led the development of Tennessee Tech’s current strategic plan – Tech Tomorrow. Tom has served on the Cookeville Putnam County Chamber Board of Directors and the Nashville Health Care Council Board of Directors. Tom previously served as Chair of the Martin Industrial Board, member of the WestStar Leadership Board of Trustees, and president of the Southwestern Finance Association. A Paul Harris Fellow, he is a past president of the Martin Rotary Club and a member of the Cookeville Rotary Club.

Before joining Tennessee Tech, Tom served as the UT Martin Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking and Chair of the Department of Accounting, Finance, Economics, and Political Science. His professional experience includes positions at Texas Instruments, Rockwell International, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Payne holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, an MBA with a Concentration in Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a PhD in Finance from the University of Arkansas.

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Timothy Peterson is the founder of and portfolio manager for Cane Island Alternative Advisors, which manages a global macro investment strategy. Timothy is an expert on cryptocurrency investment and valuation. His prior experience includes serving as CFO for a Houston-based financial firm where he had responsibility for co-managing an option-hedged equity strategy, and as Partner for an accounting firm where he provided consulting to the world’s largest asset management firms.

Timothy is the author of numerous published papers on investments and digital assets, including the very popular “Metcalfe’s Law as a Model for Bitcoin’s Value,” (Alternative Investment Analyst Review, 2Q 2018), as well as a book “Performance Measurement for Alternative Investments” (Risk Books: 2015), and has spoken at conferences around the world.

He is a dual graduate of the University of Colorado with a Master of Science Degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Timothy serves as Adjunct Instructor of Finance at the University of St. Thomas where he teaches “Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Network Economics.”  He works from an office in the Houston, Texas area.

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Gregory L. Prescott had a 25-year career with Compass Bank (later BBVA Compass) with most of that time as Vice President and Regional Credit Manager based in Mobile. His responsibilities included credit quality for the C&I loan portfolios in south Alabama, the State of Florida, Dallas Commercial Banking, Dallas Business Banking, and Houston Energy Banking. During his banking career, he regularly taught courses in commercial lending for relationship managers, assistant relationship managers, and credit analysts.

While on the faculty at the University of South Alabama, he received several Excellence in Teaching awards as a member of USA’s Mitchell College of Business faculty. In 2015, he received the Andy and Carol Denny National Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2016, he was named the Outstanding Accounting Educator in Alabama by the Alabama Society of CPAs. In 2016 and 2018, he was selected as the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year at the University of South Alabama. He retired from the State of Alabama system in 2019 and is now the chair of the Department of Accounting & Finance at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. He has been a faculty member with the Alabama Banking School since 1998.

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Tony L. Reitzel retired from his banking career in April 2024 after nearly 33 years in the industry.  Prior to his retirement, Tony was a Senior Vice President, Geographic Credit Manager for BB&T/Truist in Greensboro, North Carolina. He previously held the positions of Business Services Officer, City Executive, Regional Credit Officer, and Reginal Loan Administrator at BB&T. Prior to joining BB&T, Tony was a Controller for Heavy Equipment Company, Commercial Lender & City Executive for First Citizens Bank. He also was a Private Banker, Retail Group Manager, Retail Branch Manager, and Retail & Mortgage Loan Officer at Wachovia Bank.
Tony holds a BA in Business Administration with a minor in Psychology Lenoir-Rhyne College. He received his MBA from Pfeiffer University, and he graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU in 2011. He has served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU since 2012.  Tony currently serves on the Graduate School of Banking at LSU’s Board of Trustees.

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Robert Reynolds is the senior partner in the Tuscaloosa office of Reynolds, Reynolds & Little, LLC,
focusing his practice on creditor rights in bankruptcy, foreclosure proceedings, and commercial
litigation. Robert has served as a faculty member of the LSU Graduate School of Banking since
2000, as well as the Alabama Banking School for more than 30 years. His firm represents over 35
financial institutions. He is a past President of the American Bankruptcy Institute a 10,000 member
international professional insolvency association. He has been named as one of the Top Attorneys
in Bankruptcy by Super Lawyers in the Southeast since 2008 and has consistently maintained an
“AV-Preeminent” rating from Martindale-Hubbell for many years.
He is one of approximately 118 attorneys nationwide certified in both business and
consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification.
Robert is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of
Appeal, the Northern District of Florida, and all federal and state courts in Alabama. He received
his undergraduate degree from Auburn University and masters and law degrees from the University
of Alabama.

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Joan Reukauf is the President and incoming Chief Executive Officer for Pacific Coast Banking School. With over 30 years of experience in the banking sector, including serving as CEO of an Oregon based community bank, Joan has held executive positions with responsibilities in areas of IT, bank and branch operations, human resources, treasury management, and marketing. Prior to joining PCBS, Joan was emersed in education, teaching leadership courses for the American Bankers Association and the capstone course of the MBA for Professionals program at Willamette University. In 2019, Joan joined PCBS as a LeaderSim instructor. She holds a BA in Marketing from Boise State University and an MBA from Willamette University. Joan is also a 2006 PCBS graduate.

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RONNY ROBERTS owns Ronald Roberts Consulting. From 1990 until his retirement at the end of 2019 he was a Senior Consultant at ProBank Austin, formerly known as Professional Bank Services, Inc. (PBS), Managing Director of the firm’s Nashville office, and was on the Board of Directors of PBS. Prior to joining PBS in 1990, Mr. Roberts was a senior vice presi­dent for a regional bank holding company for eight years where he managed the audit and loan examination division and was assistant director for credit policy and loan administration. He was also extensively involved with the acquisition of 17 banks for the holding company. From 1970 to 1982 he served as a national bank examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). His duties with the OCC included examina­tion of many of the large regional banks in the Southeast; instructor at various training sessions; and assignments in the Washington office. Mr. Roberts has also served as a community banker. With PBS, Mr. Roberts provided consulting services in loan review, internal auditing, quality analysis, loan administration, director and loan officer training, regulatory assistance, strategic planning and litigation support, including expert witness testimony. He is a graduate of both the University of Tennessee and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Roberts has served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at L.S.U. since 1992. He was a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors for many years.

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Steve Robichaux is President of Capital City Consultants. As an active consultant Steve specializes in Conflict Resolution, Team Building, Motivating and empowering your employees. Steve has worked with companies such as Schlumberger, EMC, Albemarle, CLECO, and Turner Industries

Steve holds an MBA and Undergraduate Degree in Psychology from LSU, and he has been professionally affiliated with LSU Continuing Education for over 25 years. He served as an instructor in the LSU Executive Education Program for fifteen years, and he has taught on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU for over 20 years.

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Michael Schloegel leads Hancock Whitney’s Mississippi Pine Belt as Market President focused on the development of prosperous culture.  Michael’s career with Hancock Whitney began in 1998 in a variety of roles in Operations, Commercial Banking and Management throughout Mississippi.

An alum of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, class of 2016, and past president of the Mississippi Young Bankers, Michael is active in the Mississippi Banking Association serving as a member of its Legislative Committee.

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Chuck Shaffer is Chief Executive Officer of SeacoastBank, Stuart, Florida.

Laura H. Shreaves, SHRM-SCP is retired from Banking after over 20 years in the industry.  Her last full time role was as Chief Human Resources Officer for C&F Bank in Virginia.  Previously she served as a Senior HR Consultant for Anthem. She began her 30+ year HR career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Laura received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs from the University of Mary Washington.  She is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking in HR at the University of Wisconsin and the Virginia Bankers Association Executive Leadership Program.  She is also a graduate of the Center of Creative Leadership Coaching Program.  Laura holds a SHRM-SCP certification.

Laura has served in leadership roles in various community organizations including Rotary, Meals on Wheels, and currently serves on the local School Board.  She is an active volunteer for the Richmond SHRM chapter.

E. J. Smith, MBA Consultant, Trainer & Leadership Coach–  Lead instructor in in the following programs:  LSU College of Business Executive Development Program, LSU Division of Continuing Education, University of Notre Dame Stayer Executive Development Center and the Mendoza College of Business. I have been fortunate to have a career that has spanned several disciplines ranging from line level production and operations management as a supervisor at General Electric Aviation; mid-level operations management at A T & T; sales and operations management at A T & T, Merck, and Tokos Medical: and executive level management in sales, operations, and strategic planning at Tokos Medical, and HEALTHDYNE (later known as MATRIA Healthcare). My project management experience includes construction projects, technology projects, performance management projects, business development research projects, as well as training projects both domestically and internationally in countries such as South Korea, Chile, Romania, and The Netherlands. I have managed budgets over $1 Billion and I have had almost 4,000 employees.

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Bill Stallings is a 40-year veteran of the financial services industry with a diverse background of business, commercial, corporate and middle markets lending, public finance, commercial real estate lending, and commercial credit administration.

Bill is currently Chief Lending Officer for North Carolina Rural Center, Small Business Capital Division in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He is a 1999 graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU and has served on the school’s Board of Trustees and a member of the faculty since 2012.

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Kristen J. Stogniew, Esq., CFE,  is a shareholder in the Financial Institutions Advisory Group of Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund. She has more than 20 years of experience as a trusted advisor to community banks on legal, operational and compliance concerns. Kristen leads a team of dedicated Saltmarsh professionals who provide internal audits, compliance reviews and other consulting services that help clients operate safely, soundly and in compliance with regulatory requirements. Her primary areas of review include BSA, Loan and Deposit Compliance, Marketing and Retail Delivery (including Social Media), Trust, Governance and ACH. Kristen also provides one-on-one mentoring and customized training at the staff and director level, and facilitates a number of user groups (such as AML monitoring systems, loan origination systems, fraud/AML, and CMOs).

Kristen earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida, and she holds a J.D. from the Stetson University College of Law. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a member of the Florida Bar Association. Kristen speaks regularly at state and local industry, compliance, and BSA/AML associations, and she serves as a Course Coordinator at GSBLSU for elective courses in BSA/AML and special topics.

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Allison Stout is Senior Vice President and Director of Finance and Accounting for South Atlantic Bank in Myrtle Beach, SC. With over twenty years in community banking, Allison’s experience includes oversight and strategy development in financial management, banking operations, treasury services, and deposit products. Allison currently serves as Course Coordinator and faculty for the South Carolina Bankers School, as well as a member of the S.C. Bankers Association School Board, and formerly the South Carolina Bankers Association Asset-Liability Management Committee.

James Stringer had been in banking for over 45 years before his retirement at the end of 2019.  He most recently worked in Jackson, Mississippi, at BancorpSouth as an Executive Vice President and Regional Loan Administrator for the Corporate Banking Group as well as the Gulf Coast Division.  He began his career at Deposit Guaranty National Bank in Jackson in 1974.  He worked there for more than 27 years in various credit related functions including Small Business Lender, Credit Department Manager, Loan Review Manager, and Area Credit Officer.  His time there included mergers with First American National Bank in Nashville and AmSouth Bank in Birmingham.

James has been a speaker and instructor on numerous credit related topics for various local banking and accounting groups in addition to the Risk Management Association, Jackson State University, Mississippi College, and Mississippi State University.  He has been part of the GBS LSU staff as an instructor of Loan Portfolio Management and as a case leader on Problem Loan Workouts.  He has been lead instructor for Loan Officer Orientation at BancorpSouth headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi.

James is a 1974 graduate of Mississippi State University and a 1987 graduate of GBS at LSU.  He is a long time resident of Clinton, Mississippi where he is very involved in many civic, school, and church activities.

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Chad Tagtow is the Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer for Citizens Bank and Trust in Central Florida.  His areas of responsibility include innovation, technology, risk management, and operations.  Prior to joining Citizens Bank and Trust, Chad worked for Raytheon NCS on multiple government projects in the areas of: Information assurance architectural design, risk management, security testing and evaluation, and security certification and accreditation. He began his career in the information security field developing and implementing network security policy for Boeing Aerospace at Kennedy Space Center in the late 1990’s.

Chad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU in 2009. He is an (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) since 2002. He teaches the Digital Disruption and Cybersecurity course at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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Katherine D. Tohanczyn, Esquire is an associate attorney at Starfield & Smith, P.C. in its Fort Washington office.  She concentrates her practice on representing financial institutions nationwide, including national banks, community banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders in commercial lending
and government guaranteed lending. As a closing attorney for commercial lenders, Katherine prepares and reviews loan files for SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA and conventional commercial loans, confers with loan processors and in-house counsel, and drafts, analyzes and negotiates loan and finance documents.
She also assists lenders with SBA and USDA eligibility and structure concerns, loan modifications and loan work outs. Additionally, Katherine investigates state and federal regulatory issues to aid in the representation of commercial lenders before the US Small Business Administration on a variety of policy and SBA guaranty related items.

Katherine was selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers- Pennsylvania Rising Stars for 2019 and 2020 in the area of banking. Katherine has also been published in a number of academic journals including, the Villanova Law Review, The Moorad Sports Law Journal, and the Philadelphia Lawyer.

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Mark Trinkle is currently the Chief Growth Officer for Anthony Cole Training Group, LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Anthony Cole Training Group (ACTG) is a 30-year-old company serving financial institutions across the United States.  In his current role, Mark oversees the national sales function for ACTG and he also heads up their Banking Practice Group.  Mark joined the firm in 2007 and every year, speaks at many bank association meetings including The Bank CEO Network, California Bankers Association, Independent Bankers Association of Texas, the Ohio Bankers League and the New York Bankers Association. Mark is a passionate industry expert, helping banks across the country sell, coach and hire better.

Prior to joining ACTG, Mark enjoyed an 18-year career in the insurance industry where he worked as a Vice President of Business Development for USI Insurance and Wells Fargo Insurance Services.  He began his career in financial services upon graduation from Ohio Northern University in 1987.

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Tod Trulove serves as the assistant commissioner of the bank division for the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions.

Tod began his career with the Department of Financial Institutions in 1990 as a bank examiner.  In 1999 he took on the duties of special examiner concentrating on conducting examinations of trust companies and bank trust departments. He was promoted to regional supervisor in 2001, where he managed a team of bank examination personnel.  Tod later assumed the role of Chief Administrator of the bank division in 2003 before being promoted to his present position in 2004.  As assistant commissioner, Tod is responsible for leadership of the bank division and supervision of state-chartered banks and trust companies.  In addition to indirectly supervising the examination function he also oversees the division’s large bank, applications, trust, and training sections.  He is responsible for the division’s budget and operations and the formulation and implementation of policy.

A native of Columbia, Tennessee, Tod holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Tod is an alumnus of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University, where he has served as a Bank SIM instructor since 2013.  Tod is a member of the Conference of Bank Supervisors (CSBS) Education Foundation Board of Trustees and he holds a Certified Examination Management designation from the Foundation.

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Tom Walker is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group of Jones Walker.  He focuses on commercial and regulatory matters in the financial services industry, with a depth of experience representing financial institutions.  Prior to joining the firm, Tom served as executive vice president and director of a community bank in Forest, Mississippi.  His experience as general counsel chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and chief investments officer in the financial services sector enhances his ability to provide legal services to his clients.

Tom previously served as chairman of the Attorneys Committee of the Mississippi Bankers Association during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, and he currently serves as a member of that committee.  He has also served as treasurer and member of the Executive Council of the Mississippi Young Bankers.  Tom was on the board of governors for the Mississippi Society of CPAs and served as its Secretary.  He has also been a member of the Long Range Planning Committee and Banking Committee for the Mississippi Society of CPAs.  Tom has been an active certified public accountant in Mississippi since 2001.  He is also a 2014 graduate from the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

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Dr. Matthew Whitledge is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Finance at Mississippi State University. He earned his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University where he developed a research focus of community banking, bank funding, and banking regulation.  His research has been published in high-quality academic journals including the Journal of Banking and Finance and the Journal of Financial Stability.

Since 2020, he has served as the faculty advisor to the student team from Mississippi State in the annual, nationwide Community Bank Case Study Competition sponsored by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. In 2020 a team of five Mississippi State students won the competition, and were able to present their findings at the annual Community Banking in the 21st Century Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The same conference chose him as an emerging scholar in 2015 and he has had research presented at the conference as well.

In addition to serving as the faculty advisor for the case study team, he currently teaches introductory courses and a senior-level capstone course while trying to incorporate real-life examples from his prior experience during his time as a licensed financial advisor at a community bank.  Immediately prior to joining the Mississippi State faculty, he taught introductory finance and banking courses at Coastal Carolina University.

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Jason Windham has 27 years of banking experience in Alabama.  He is a member of the Executive team at Bank Independent (BI) headquartered in Florence, Alabama, and serves as President of Interstate Billing Service (IBS) located in Decatur, Alabama, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BI.  Prior to accepting his current position, he worked in Credit Risk and Sales Management at BI.  He is a member of various committees such as Executive Committee, Leadership Committee, and the Sales and Marketing Committee.  Prior to joining the BI team in 2009, he worked one year as a Commercial Lender with First National Bank of Jasper and twelve years as an Examiner with the Alabama State Banking Department.

Jason is a 2001 graduate of the University of Alabama in Birmingham (MBA), 1996 graduate of Troy University (B.S. Finance), and a graduate of both the LSU Graduate School of Banking (2006), and the Alabama Banking School (2003). Jason has worked with Alabama Banking School (ABS) as a faculty member and in various other capacities for 18 years, including serving as the Class Director for the Class of 2013, the 2015-2016 Assistant School Director and 2017-2018 School Director.  Jason is a former member of the Bankers 2 Leaders Board, former Chairman and current Vice Chairman of the Board of Mars Hill Bible School in Florence and serves as a deacon in the local church.