Event & Class Speakers
If you would like information on any unlisted speakers, please contact a Professional Development Associate.
Dianne Barton, is President of Performance Solutions, inc. (PSi), training and consulting company that specializes in providing solutions to the key challenges facing banks today in attracting and building relationships with their customers. PSi's training programs are designed to “close the gap” between the banks’ needs and employees' skills. Her trademark “real world” scenarios give attendees insight into the practical application of new skills and knowledge. Dianne is a well-respected facilitator and presenter and has spoken to banking audiences across the country for over 30 years. Her training and consulting expertise in strategic planning, leadership, deposit and consumer regulatory compliance, retail growth strategies, performance management, as well as sales culture development is recognized as providing “real world solutions” by both regional and community banks. Before starting Performance Solutions in 1983, she held senior positions with BankSouth Corporation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the John H. Harland Company. Dianne is a graduate of Georgia State University and is on the faculty of several national and state banking schools.
Lisa Berry is a Senior Banking Consultant and Principal with Warren Averett, one of the largest CPA firms in the southeast, with more than 36 years of experience in the financial services industry. As a consultant for PSI and Warren Averett, Lisa conducts and facilitates training from the frontline to the board room
David Branch is the President and CEO of Branch Solutions Group, a business and leadership training company. His perspective as a business coach and teacher stems from his 24 years of “in the trenches” experience as the owner of a construction and environmental remediation firm. Being fully engaged in the daily functions of these businesses, David knows first-hand the daily struggles leaders face. His experiences in leadership bring a “realness” that effectively serves to break down barriers between leaders and their teams, resulting in success for the entire team.
Mike Burke brings three decades of law enforcement, retail loss prevention and training experience to your event. After a 20-year career, Mike was tapped to lead the first Homeland Security Training Center in Iowa. He went on to work with some of the largest retailers in the country to prevent theft loss before bringing his wealth of experience to SHAZAM’s community institutions. His timely and comprehensive presentations are an invaluable resource for organizations looking to tackle issues like card cloning, skimming fraud, robbery prevention and elder fraud.
Anetria Connell is a Vice President at ProBank Austin . Prior to joining the firm, she served as legal counsel to the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions which regulates depository, non-depository, and securities entities. Her primary responsibility at the Department was the Dodd-Frank Act, whereby she assessed its effect on federal and state law and provided information and training to examiners and staff. In addition to her regulatory experience, Ms. Connell practiced business, real estate, and banking law. She graduated from The George Washington University Law school in 2004 with honors, and is licensed to practice law in Ohio and Kentucky.
Patrick Dix As a former news anchor, Patrick brings his story-telling approach to audiences on a variety of topics. From working with the media, to crisis communications, to the latest issues in the payments industry, Patrick provides commentary to help audiences understand complex topics and delivers easily digestible takeaways they can use at their institution. Patrick leads SHAZAM’s strategic partnerships with more than 70 industry organizations and trade associations, supporting their advocacy efforts and ensuring community financial institutions have a strong voice in the payments industry.
Carol Dodgen is the owner of Dodgen Security Consulting. Since 1998, her company has been providing services for businesses, financial institutions, and government entities to include training, ATM lighting inspections, and security assessments. Before forming her company, Carol served as the security training officer for Compass Bank. She earned her Master's Degree in Criminal Justice and spent several years as an adjunct criminal justice instructor with Jacksonville State University. Carol is a nationally recognized speaker who has provided training for over 100,000 corporate, manufacturing, utility, law enforcement, and security personnel over the past 25 years. Carol earned her CPD (Crime Prevention Designation) and provides instruction on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), Workplace Violence Prevention and Response, Robbery Prevention and Response, and Personal Safety. Carol recently produced her 2nd video training program entitled “Robbery: Plan. Prevent. Prevail.” which provides training for employees of financial institutions in proper robbery procedures. In 2009, Carol was appointed by the governor to serve on the newly formed Alabama Security Regulatory Board and served for 6 years as vice-chair of this board which regulates the security guard industry in the state.
Zach Duke is the Founder and President of Cybersecurity firm Finosec. Under his leadership, he leads the vision of the company to help financial institutions navigate the complexities and burdens of cybersecurity. Zach has over 20 years of experience in helping community banks manage information security and cybersecurity. He has held positions in technical, product management, business development, and leadership at network services company Safe Systems and Gladiator Technology until its acquisition by Jack Henry and Associates INC. Zach has a passion for community banks, and he has taught numerous banking topics related to technology strategic planning, cybersecurity, and compliance. Duke is on the advisory board of Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia, and he is the immediate Past President of the financial technology user group, The Association for Financial Technology (aftweb.com). Duke received his BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia. His unique background and presentation style allows him to be able to communicate complex topics in ways that keep the audience engaged and informed.
April Farlow has spent over 15 years motivating audiences to get out of their comfort zone, speak up and represent their values. As a corporate trainer, April has taught over 20,000 individuals and honed her skills to motivate hard to reach audiences. She has ranked in the top 1% of facilitators out of 3,000 for Dale Carnegie Training.
April delivers! On topics such as vision development, self-confidence, presentation skills, and leadership, she has led to measurable behavioral change impacting the bottom line in multiple industries. Organizations who have heard from April include UPS (United Parcel Service), CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Federal Home Loan Bank Atlanta, Home Depot, Kroger Company, Spanx, Chick-Fil-A, Wal-Mart, Magic Wand Foundation, Abbot, and Mitsubishi Electric.
While speaking at a conference for foster youth in 2009, April was moved by the students in the audience. From this experience, April founded, Lydia’s Place, a non-profit serving young adults who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Today, she serves as the President of Lydia’s Place and is an advocate for the voice of young people in their transition to independence.
April lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband and four girls.
April delivers! On topics such as vision development, self-confidence, presentation skills, and leadership, she has led to measurable behavioral change impacting the bottom line in multiple industries. Organizations who have heard from April include UPS (United Parcel Service), CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Federal Home Loan Bank Atlanta, Home Depot, Kroger Company, Spanx, Chick-Fil-A, Wal-Mart, Magic Wand Foundation, Abbot, and Mitsubishi Electric.
While speaking at a conference for foster youth in 2009, April was moved by the students in the audience. From this experience, April founded, Lydia’s Place, a non-profit serving young adults who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Today, she serves as the President of Lydia’s Place and is an advocate for the voice of young people in their transition to independence.
April lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband and four girls.
Tom Flournoy has over 35 years of community bank leadership experience in the areas of finance, accounting, audit, risk and bank operations. Tom is Senior Vice President of Advisory Services at PCBB. Tom specializes in credit risk measurement and risk management including: Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL), Including CECL; Liquidity Risk; ALCO Services. Prior to joining PCBB, Tom served as a CFO and COO at community banks in Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. Tom served as CFO of CBC National Bank ("CBCO"), a high performing community bank focused on Mortgage and SBA Lending. He also served as CFO of First Bank of Georgia, where the bank was ranked as one of the top banks in Georgia during the economic crisis. He received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ball State University in Indiana.
Leah M. Hamilton, JD is a Vice President and Senior Consultant with ProBank Austin’s Education Division. She has a broad range of expertise in federal regulatory compliance. With nearly 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, her compliance knowledge spans Lending, Deposits, BSA/AML and Compliance Management. Leah is nationally recognized for her practical compliance advice and her engaging approach to teaching regulatory compliance matters with her quick wit, sense of humor and examples, making compliance an enjoyable educational experience. Where compliance is every employee’s responsibility every day, she provides tools and valuable insight to effectively understand and manage compliance. As a compliance expert, Leah has served as a lead advisor on consent order remediation engagements and management responses to examiner concerns. She is often called upon to assist in potential RESPA Section 8, UDAAP and Overdraft matters. Leah has trained more than 1,000 lenders on TRID and served as a TRID and 2018 HMDA expert for the American Bankers Association. Prior to joining the firm, Leah has served as the Chief Compliance Officer for a $4 billion community bank, a start-up mortgage company and, most notably, for TriComply, Temenos’ compliance division. Additionally, she has served as inhouse counsel and worked for several leading banking software firms. Leah received her Juris Doctorate from Northern Illinois University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in General Studies degree from the University of Texas at Dallas where she majored in law and minored in business management. Leah also serves as a faculty member of Southern Methodist University’s SW Graduate School of Banking in Dallas where she teaches Compliance 101, Fair Lending and the Mortgage Loan Process.
Darla Harms is a Leadership Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. She holds a Master's Degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Leadership and Adult Education and has been a student of leadership for over 22 years. She is a trained John Maxwell Coach, Speaker, and Trainer as well as a trained Mindset Coach from the Arbinger Institute. Darla started her own leadership company six years ago called, Darla Harms Leadership. Since then she has worked with thousands of leaders in Georgia and multiple other States. She has spent thousands of hours coaching, training, and speaking on the subject of leadership and believes leadership is the catalyst for any change we desire in our lives, in our workforce, and in our homes.
Ben Hayden - Ben’s unique background, produces a speaker with one-of-a-kind insights. He’s been a law enforcement official and a bank security officer … and now he helps financial institutions across the country by leading the SHAZAM Secure team. Ben identifies the most critical areas of risk for your institution and allows you to walk away with practical advice and new perspectives in protecting your institution from physical and virtual risks. He helps financial institutions mitigate risks in information technology, cybersecurity, physical security and BSA compliance. Ben holds master’s degrees in computer engineering and information assurance, is a certified anti-money laundering specialist and member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. He has additional certifications and extensive training in electronic investigations, digital forensics and active shooter response.
Virginia Heyburn, VP, Sales Enablement and Business Development, FIServ, advises financial institution executives about industry and consumer trends, business drivers and technology innovations. By sharing her knowledge and learning about the intricacies of specific markets and organizations, Heyburn is uniquely positioned to help financial institutions formulate successful strategies for enhancing profitability and achieving growth objectives. Prior to her current role, Heyburn also served Fiserv as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and as Vice President of Market and Product Strategy for the Signature™ solution set. During her work with Signature, Heyburn successfully led initiatives in the areas of risk and compliance, digital channels and payments, and advances in core banking feature sets for the benefit of Fiserv clients and their customers. In addition to her Fiserv experience, Heyburn previously held the position of Research Operations Director at TowerGroup, where she managed cross-industry practices and focused on emerging technology and business models, integrated architectures and IT investment strategies. A respected and sought after industry thought leader, Heyburn is a frequent main stage speaker at financial industry events, and her commentaries are regularly featured on the Fiserv Boardroom Series, an innovative online forum for financial services industry executives. Heyburn has also been quoted by top-tier media and industry trade publications, including The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, American Banker, and BankTechnology News. Heyburn holds a Diplom-Oekonom Praedikatsexamen from the University of Kassel, Germany
Doug Hensley has more than 38 years of experience in portfolio, financial and risk management with bank and governmental organizations. Doug is Senior Vice President and group head of the consulting solutions division of PCBB. His areas of expertise include bank profitability and performance, credit and rate risk measurement and management, including loan portfolio stress testing, allowance for loan and lease loss (ALLL) methodologies and measurements and ALCO services. Prior to joining PCBB, Doug was principle of Hensley Consulting, which provided advisory services to banks and municipal organizations, portfolio manager for the City of Phoenix, treasury operations manager at MeraBank in Phoenix, and an accountant with an independent bank.
Craig Hirsch is a Bank Examiner specializing in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing. He is part of the OCC Southern District’s BSA Working Group, performs analyses on FinCEN data for various banks in the Southern District, and frequently participates in interagency meetings with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Mr. Hirsch is an instructor for the OCC’s domestic and foreign AML Schools, the FFIEC’s Financial Crime seminar, and has spoken at various industry conferences on a wide range of BSA/AML/OFAC topics. He has written articles on BSA/AML and fraud, which have appeared in national publications. Before joining the OCC, Craig spent over nine years as a consultant in the areas of anti-money laundering, forensic accounting, and financial statement audit. He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, Certified Professional in Anti-Money Laundering, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Public Accountant.
Jeffery Johnson, President and founder of Bankers Insight Group, Decatur, Georgia. He is formerly executive vice president and senior consultant at Bankers Management, Inc. He began his career as a management trainee and was promoted to group vice president for South Trust Bank, Atlanta. Johnson also was senior vice president and commercial banking division manager for Citizens Trust Bank, Atlanta. He has taught AIB classes and lending seminars for Georgia, Arkansas, and Tennessee Bankers Associations. Johnson is a graduate of Morehouse College, Atlanta; John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio; and the Prochnow Graduate School of Banking, Madison, Wisconsin. He received graduate certification in bank management from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Preston L. Kennedy is immediate past chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA), the only national advocacy organization that exclusively represents community banks. President and CEO of Zachary Bancshares Inc., in Zachary, La., Kennedy serves in many leadership roles at ICBA.
He serves on the Executive Committee, board of directors and Federal Delegate Board (FDB). He is chairman of the ICBA Nominating Committee, a member on the Policy Development Committee and Executive Committee liaison for ICBA’s Political Action Committee, ICBPAC. He is also an ex-officio member of the Consolidated Holdings and the Services Network boards.
Preston was treasurer on the ICBA Executive Committee in 2014-2016, at-large director in 2011-2012 and ICBA’s state delegate for Louisiana on the FDB. He has served on the ICBA Securities board and as a past committee member of the Cyber and Data Security Committee.
Kennedy has always maintained longstanding ties to his community. He is a former president of the Feliciana Chamber of Commerce and the Zachary Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Zachary and has served on the boards of small business incubator, Dixie Business Center, and the Lane Regional Medical Center Foundation.
Kennedy attended Silliman Institute, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Louisiana State University E. J. Ourso School of Business, and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.
He lives in Baton Rouge, La., with his wife. They have six children and twelve grandchildren.
He serves on the Executive Committee, board of directors and Federal Delegate Board (FDB). He is chairman of the ICBA Nominating Committee, a member on the Policy Development Committee and Executive Committee liaison for ICBA’s Political Action Committee, ICBPAC. He is also an ex-officio member of the Consolidated Holdings and the Services Network boards.
Preston was treasurer on the ICBA Executive Committee in 2014-2016, at-large director in 2011-2012 and ICBA’s state delegate for Louisiana on the FDB. He has served on the ICBA Securities board and as a past committee member of the Cyber and Data Security Committee.
Kennedy has always maintained longstanding ties to his community. He is a former president of the Feliciana Chamber of Commerce and the Zachary Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Zachary and has served on the boards of small business incubator, Dixie Business Center, and the Lane Regional Medical Center Foundation.
Kennedy attended Silliman Institute, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Louisiana State University E. J. Ourso School of Business, and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.
He lives in Baton Rouge, La., with his wife. They have six children and twelve grandchildren.
Teri Laudano is a Senior Consultant at ProBank Austin. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Laudano served in the banking industry in the St. Louis Metropolitan and Lincoln County areas since 1982. She has nearly 30 years as a bank officer and manager of centralized loan administration departments with experience training consumer and commercial compliance, banking laws and regulations. As a Senior Consultant, Ms. Laudano presents ProBank Austin seminars and provides consulting services on regulatory compliance topics with emphasis on lending operations.
Holly Logue has been representing community banks since 1983. Her experience encompasses a wide breadth of banking regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, federal and state court litigation, foreclosures, collections, bankruptcies and creditors’ rights matters. In 2015, Holly became a founding member of Financial Institutions Strategies Group, LLC, a bank consulting firm representing Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) throughout the southeastern U.S. Today, Holly and her partner represent over 50% of the CDFI banks in the country and have successfully obtained some 200 grants totaling $54 million for their clients. Holly earned her B.A. degree from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN and her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans, LA in 1983.
David Luken is a Vice President at ProBank Austin. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Mr. Luken was senior vice president and general counsel for a billion dollar metropolitan bank holding company. While at ProBank he has served on the faculty of the FDIC's Advanced Consumer Protection School, Bank Operations and Compliance School and the OTS Compliance School. He has also served on the faculties of banking schools conducted by the New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Arkansas bankers associations. Mr. Luken conducts over 100 seminars a year in the areas of lending and deposit compliance, Bank Secrecy Act, internet banking, information security and privacy law.
Paul Lynch is responsible for the placement of all types of state tax credits in Sugar Creek Capital’s 12+ state footprint. With 30+ years of experience in financial services with Stateside Capital, SunTrust, C&S Securities, and Quick and Reilly, Paul works with banks, insurance companies, corporations, and high-income individual in addressing state tax needs as well as CRA issues. Paul holds a finance degree from Iowa State University, is a Certified Funds Manager, has completed his CFP coursework and has held 9 different securities license designations.
Chris Nelson earned his title as one of the leading industry experts through hardwork and dedication. His path to Vice President of STS Group began on the front line, first as a technician and then mid-level management. Chris has become a banking industry expert as STS Group grew into a regional company providing security equipment and branch automation solutions across the Southeast. Chris consults with financial institutions across the U.S. on new branch technology and has an extensive knowledge of the greatest threats to bank security and how technology can help combat those threats.
Paul Perry has been with the Warren Averrett since 2004 and is a Member and the practice leader of the Security, Risk and Controls Group. Paul and his team focus on cybersecurity, information technology related projects, risk assessments, internal controls, internal audit and control-related projects, including System and Organization Control engagements.
Paul is also the leader of the Firm’s Data Analysis Group, a team of individuals within the Firm who provide data analysis solutions to both internal and external clients. For more than 11 years, he specialized in auditing and assurance services. Paul has extensive experience serving clients in the nonprofit, governmental, financial, insurance and healthcare facilities/hospital industries during this time. Paul has earned the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) certification. This credential is awarded to CPAs who possess both information technology and business expertise.
Paul is also a published author, columnist and regular speaker on topics such as data analysis, internal controls and information technology. In the last three years, Paul has performed more than 40 external presentations on a wide variety of technology and control related topics to groups including the ASCPA, HFMA, IIA and ISACA.
Paul is also the leader of the Firm’s Data Analysis Group, a team of individuals within the Firm who provide data analysis solutions to both internal and external clients. For more than 11 years, he specialized in auditing and assurance services. Paul has extensive experience serving clients in the nonprofit, governmental, financial, insurance and healthcare facilities/hospital industries during this time. Paul has earned the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) certification. This credential is awarded to CPAs who possess both information technology and business expertise.
Paul is also a published author, columnist and regular speaker on topics such as data analysis, internal controls and information technology. In the last three years, Paul has performed more than 40 external presentations on a wide variety of technology and control related topics to groups including the ASCPA, HFMA, IIA and ISACA.
John Sillay is originally from Marietta, Georgia. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and then moved to Macon to attend the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 2013. While at Mercer University, John worked part-time for the legal department of a large community bank headquartered in Macon. After graduating law school, John served as in-house counsel for this community bank and transitioned to private practice in 2016. Prior to joining Adams │ Hemingway, John was an Associate at James-Bates-Brannan-Groover-LLP, focusing his practice on providing financial institutions and other businesses with robust legal services with respect to mergers and acquisitions, litigation, real estate, finance, corporate governance, and navigating the regulatory landscape. John has extensive experience working with executive management, front-line staff, and other business advisors to ensure that his clients are able to mitigate risk while continuing to provide exemplary service to their customers.
Lisa Small is a Compliance Principal with Warren Averett and has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Lisa’s previous banking experience includes compliance, business development, investor relations, audit, model risk management as well as corporate governance with a $200 Billion financial institution.
Mr. Smith is the President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Memphis-based law firm of Gerrish Smith Tuck, PC, and its affiliated bank consulting firm, Gerrish Smith Tuck Consultants, LLC. Mr. Smith's legal and consulting practice places special emphasis on bank mergers and acquisitions, financial analysis, acquisition and ownership planning for boards of directors, strategic planning for boards of directors, regulatory matters, bank holding company formations and use, securities law concerns, new bank formations, S corporations, going private transactions, and other matters of importance to banks and financial institutions. He is a frequent speaker to boards of directors and a presenter at numerous banking seminars. He received his undergraduate business degree and Masters of Business Administration degree from the Fogelman School of Business and Economics at The University of Memphis and his law degree from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at The University of Memphis. He is authoring a monthly electronic newsletter, The Board Chair Forum Newsletter, which discusses key topics impacting financial institutions and, specifically, the role of the Chairman. Mr. Smith is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Barret School of Banking where he has been a member of the faculty. He has also served as a member of the faculty of the Pacific Coast Banking School, the Colorado Graduate School of Banking, the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking and the Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking.
Natalie Straus, CRCM is a Vice President and Senior Consultant at ProBank Austin. Ms. Straus provides consulting services in compliance with an emphasis on deposit operations and issues. Additionally, she performs consumer compliance and fair lending reviews as well as HMDA data integrity reviews for clients of varying degrees of size and complexity. She also presents seminars on various regulatory compliance topics for in-house and association sponsored programs and schools. Ms. Straus is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and the American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, DC. She is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager.
Diana Theis, CISP, Senior Specialized Consultant, Tax Advantaged Accounts, Compliance Center of Excellence, Wolters Kluwer
For nearly 31 years, Diana has worked closely with hundreds of financial organizations to help them create, implement, and maintain their tax-advantaged accounts programs. Twenty-four years of experience as a Senior Specialized Consultant, Tax Advantaged Accounts; Seven years of experience as an Account Administrator in the Account Record-keeping Services area of Wolters Kluwer; Has conducted hundreds of IRA trainings for financial organizations throughout the United States; Has directly assisted financial organizations in administering their IRA and other tax-advantaged accounts programs; Instrumental in the design of establishment and transaction related tax-advantaged accounts documents; Answers technical consulting calls on tax-advantaged accounts topics
For nearly 31 years, Diana has worked closely with hundreds of financial organizations to help them create, implement, and maintain their tax-advantaged accounts programs. Twenty-four years of experience as a Senior Specialized Consultant, Tax Advantaged Accounts; Seven years of experience as an Account Administrator in the Account Record-keeping Services area of Wolters Kluwer; Has conducted hundreds of IRA trainings for financial organizations throughout the United States; Has directly assisted financial organizations in administering their IRA and other tax-advantaged accounts programs; Instrumental in the design of establishment and transaction related tax-advantaged accounts documents; Answers technical consulting calls on tax-advantaged accounts topics
