Sponsors

BoardVantage leads the market in delivering paperless process for board and leadership communication.  Trusted by enterprises worldwide, including half of the Fortune 500, BoardVantage sets the bar for a mobile executive experience.  For more information, visit www.boardvantage.com.

Alston & Bird is a leading national firm whose core practice areas are corporate, tax, intellectual property and complex litigation, with focuses that include financial services and health care.  The firm has been ranked on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for 15 consecutive years.  For more information, please visit www.alston.com.

AHT Insurance is an insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm dedicated to providing innovative solutions globally for businesses and individuals.  AHT is employee-owned and one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in the nation, with offices in Leesburg, Virginia, Seattle, Washington, Newark, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois.  For more information, please visit www.ahtins.com.

Arnold & Porter LLP is a full-service law firm with an experienced financial services practice.  With key offices in New York and Washington, DC, their lawyers are well-versed in handling the full spectrum of financial services regulatory and transactional issues, legislative matters and litigation, including enforcement proceedings. For more information, visit www.arnoldporter.com.

Austin Associates, LLC is a leading provider of investment banking services to community banks.  SNL has consistently ranked Austin Associates among the top M&A advisory firms to community banks. Austin Associates also provides strategic planning, stock valuations, capital planning, regulatory consulting, asset/liability management, profitability and loan pricing systems, risk management, compliance and technology solutions.  For more information, visit www.austinassociates.com.

Baird Holm, LLP is a leading provider of M&A and other legal services for financial institutions.  Based out of Omaha, Nebraska and serving clients across the country, they routinely assist banks and bank holding companies with mergers and acquisitions and capital raises, as well as a wide variety of complex lending, depository, compliance and regulatory matters.  For more information, please visit www.bairdholm.com.

The BancAlliance network is a shared commercial and industrial (C&I) loan platform that identifies, evaluates and refers loan opportunities to its community and regional bank members.  It enables its members, the banks that direct the network’s activities, to both acquire high-quality commercial and industrial loans and develop relationships with larger borrowers in their market.  BancAlliance has more than 175 member located across the country.  For more information, please visit www.bancalliance.com.

Bank Financial Services Group, a leading expert in the BOLI industry, is a national firm with an exclusive focus on community banks.  Bank Financial Services Group manages all BOLI investments with the primary goal of providing unparalleled customer support, increasing the bank’s bottom line earnings, increasing shareholder value and funding meaningful benefits for all bank employees.  For more information, please visit www.bfsgroup.com.

The Barack Ferrazzano Financial Institutions Group has 30 bank lawyers representing over 250 financial institutions, addressing the entire spectrum of industry-related legal issues. They formulate creative solutions, emphasizing relationships, service and stability.  They are consistently ranked as a top law firm in bank mergers and regulatory issues.  For more information, visit www.bfkn.com.

Established in 1817, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America.  With total assets of $537 billion and approximately 45,500 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers.  They also serve customers through their wealth management businesses.  BMO Capital Markets, their investment and corporate banking and trading products division, provides a full suite of financial products and services to North American and international clients.  In the United States, BMO serves customers through BMO Harris Bank, an integrated financial services organization based in the U.S. Midwest with more than two million retail, small business and commercial customers.  For more information, please visit www.bmo.com.

Bryan Cave is a leading business and litigation firm with more than 1,100 lawyers and consulting professionals in 24 offices worldwide.  The Financial Institutions services group is a market leading practice whose members have represented banks across the country in matters related to every aspect of the financial services industry.  For more information, please visit www.bryancave.com.

Commerce Street Capital, LLC, is a premier investment banking firm serving financial institutions and middle-market companies.  They value collaboration with their client partners and enjoy building long term relationships established on a foundation of mutual respect, common goals and uncommon integrity.  Led by veterans of the financial industry, Commerce Street Capital’s financial institutions and bank capital practices specialize in mergers & acquisitions, recapitalizations, private placement of debt & equity, regulatory advisory, valuations & fairness opinions, community bank capital markets services, SBIC fund raising and due diligence services.  For more information, please visit www.commercestreetcapital.com.

For more than 20 years, Meyer-Chatfield Compensation Advisors has been a trusted partner to America’s financial institutions — providing compensation advisory services and Bank Owned Life Insurance.  Meyer-Chatfield teaches clients how to meet financial goals, manage benefit liabilities and enhance shareholder value.  As industry experts they deliver unique strategies and solutions  For more information, please visit www.compensationadvisors.com.

Covington is a leader representing financial institutions on transactional, regulatory, litigation and enforcement matters, including M&A, investments, capital markets, governance and compliance. They represent community banks and larger institutions in M&A and other strategic transactions, and their deep regulatory expertise is integrated into every aspect of their practice.  For more information, please visit www.cov.com.

Credit Risk Management, L.L.C. was founded in 1989 as a service-oriented company bringing consultative, collaborative and relational credit management solutions to community banks and other financial institutions.  Staffed by experienced bankers, they provide external loan and special reviews, online credit manuals, credit training and underwriting tools to over 100 clients located in 32 states.  Their products and services offer future focused analysis to allow clients to focus on both the transactional and macro portfolio assessment.  For more information, please visit www.creditriskmgt.com.

Crowe Horwath LLP is one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., providing audit, tax, advisory, risk and performance services.  Their banking industry focused team of more than 550 professionals has more than 50 years of experience, works with financial institutions of all sizes and serves more than 1,100 financial services organizations.  Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International.  Crowe banking specialists have created a complete M&A solution which begins at the inception of a deal and works with management teams all the way through the transaction and including the very difficult post acquisition phase of accounting, valuations, tax and post-merger integration issues.  Their specialists are truly banking focused and not generalists when it comes to serving through the M&A process.  You can count on Crowe professionals to bring the combination of functional expertise with industry knowledge to provide a level of service which has set Crowe apart from other service providers.  For more information, please visit www.crowehorwath.com/fi.

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a preeminent global law firm with 10 offices across the world’s key financial centers.  For more than 160 years, their lawyers have advised industry-leading companies and global financial institutions on their most challenging legal and business matters.  For more information, please visit www.davispolk.com.

Day Pitney LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 250 attorneys in Boston, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington, DC.  The firm offers clients corporate and litigation practices, with experience on behalf of large national and international corporations, as well as emerging- and middle-market companies and individuals.  For more information, please visit www.daypitney.com.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots.  The firm’s banking group has extensive experience counseling banks, thrifts, insurance firms and other financial institutions on a wide range of matters that include complex mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.  For more information, please visit www.debevoise.com.

Equias Alliance has successfully helped nearly 800 financial institutions with BOLI placement and with plans to recruit, retain and reward key officers and directors with nonqualified benefit plans.  They also provide administration of BOLI and nonqualified benefit plans.  Securities offered through ProEquities, Member FINRA and SIPC.  Equias is independent of ProEquities.  For more information, please visit www.equiasalliance.com.

Fenimore, Kay, Harrison & Ford is an industry-focused law firm which provides a wide range of business-oriented legal services to financial institutions throughout the United States.  FKHF’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital formation, including public and private offerings, bank regulatory compliance, securities law and corporate governance.  For more information, please visit www.fkhpartners.com.

FIG Partners, LLC is an employee-owned broker/dealer specializing in bank and thrift stocks.  The firm’s mission is to generate superior returns for both investors and community banks through integrated research market making, capital raising, strategic advisory and sales.  The firm believes in listening to clients first, offering a different level of sincerity which it believes is often lost at large Wall Street firms.  For more information, please visit www.figpartners.com.

FinPro Capital Advisors (“FCA”) is a registered broker dealer and wholly-owned subsidiary of FinPro, Inc.  Leveraging off FinPro’s extensive consulting and regulatory expertise, FCA provides institution specific advice that can address all factors of deal making including: M&A advisory, fairness opinions, capital raise, strategic advice, valuation, due diligence, mark-to-market, enterprise risk management, business planning and regulatory advice.  For more information, please visit www.finprocapitaladvisors.com.

Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. is a leading business law firm with one of the premier Banking & Financial Institutions Practice Groups in the Midwest.  They offer practical advice on M&A, capital formation, governance and strategic matters to financial institutions of all sizes throughout the U.S.  For more information, please visit www.gklaw.com.

Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.  Their people provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients in more than 100 countries.  The Grant Thornton banking and securities team provides audit, tax and advisory services to clients in the U.S. and around the world.  For more information, please visit www.GrantThornton.com.

Griffin Financial Group LLC is an investment bank which assists financial institutions in understanding their strategic and financial alternatives, raising capital and in buying and selling banks and related businesses.  Many of the firm’s professionals are former senior executive officers of large and small depository institutions with hands-on governance, operating and transactional experience.  For more information, please visit www.griffinfingroup.com.

Hovde Group, LLC, a leading financial advisor for over 25 years, provides a full suite of investment banking, capital markets and financial advisory services focused exclusively on the banking industry.  They assist clients with all phases of M&A transactions, asset purchases/dispositions, restructurings/recapitalizations, FDIC transactions, capital raises and other strategic options.  For more information, please visit www.hovdegroup.com.

Since 2000, the lawyers at Hunton & Williams LLP have represented more banks in M&A transactions than any other firm – 75+ more transactions than the number 2 firm.  They were again number 1 in 2013 with 19 M&A transactions (SNL Securities) – 5 more than the firm that was second.  For more information, visit www.hunton.com.

Jefferies, the global investment banking firm focused on serving clients for over 50 years, is a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and governments.  The firm provides a full range of investment banking, sales, trading, research and strategy across the spectrum of equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, futures and commodities, as well as select wealth management strategies, in the Americas, Europe and Asia.  Jefferies Group LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leucadia National Corporation (NYSE: LUK), a diversified holding company.  For more information, please visit www.jefferies.com.

Jones Day is a global law firm with 16 U.S. offices and 24 foreign offices.  They represent financial institutions that are global to local in size, including banks and thrifts, holding companies, investment banks, PE and hedge funds, institutional investors, broker-dealers and investment advisors.  Their services include M&A; capital raising, securities and investments; corporate governance, all regulatory, Dodd-Frank and CFPB compliance and enforcement; litigation, including M&A, securities, derivatives and mortgages; and lending and commercial finance.  For more information, visit www.jonesday.com.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) is now part of Stifel, providing a specialized focus in the financial services industry. Leveraging the Stifel platform, KBW offers broad capabilities in distributing securities through retail and institutional channels.  KBW provides financial services companies with research, equity sales and trading, capital raising, fixed income and strategic advisory services.  KBW’s focus includes banking companies, insurance companies, broker/dealers, mortgage banks, asset management companies and specialty finance firms.  KBW’s investment banking professionals have extensive experience in public underwritings of common stock, preferred stock and debt securities, private financings, initiating, structuring and negotiating mergers and acquisitions and mutual conversions.  KBW also engages in other financial advisory services including tender offers, valuations and shareholder reduction transactions.  Currently, KBW is ranked as #1 Bookrunner based on number of bank and thrift equity offerings raising $251.1 billion, #1 depository IPO and Follow-on Bookrunner raising $10.9 billion and #1 depository M&A advisor totaling $115 billion.   For more information, please visit www.kbw.com.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP is a full-service law firm with nearly 650 attorneys.  The lawyers in their financial services practice group represent banks and other financial institutions on a wide variety of matters.  They offer a great depth of knowledge and experience in the areas of employee benefits and director and executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt offerings, holding company reorganizations, enforcement and director/officer liability matters, consumer law issues, financial privacy and electronic banking. Their lawyers understand the business impact of their clients’ legal matters and work with them to develop solution-oriented approaches.  For more information, visit www.kilpatricktownsend.com.

KPMG’s Transaction Services practice provides divestiture, merger and acquisition support by placing a strong emphasis on stakeholder value and identifying key risks and benefits early.  Their Transaction Services professionals can guide companies on a deliberate path from early deal planning toward desired business results.  They tailor their approach to focus on risks, complement your strengths and support your areas of need.  They provide support throughout the transaction life cycle on both the buy-side and the sell-side to both strategic and financial buyers.  For more information, please visit www.kpmg.com.

Locke Lord is a full-service, international law firm with offices in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Locke Lord’s team of approximately 650 attorneys has earned a solid national reputation in complex litigation, regulatory and transactional work.  For more information, please visit www.lockelord.com.

Luse Gorman is a Washington, D.C. law firm that is recognized as a national leader in advising community banks on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, SEC reporting, executive compensation, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.  It is consistently ranked as one of the top law firms nationally in bank mergers and acquisitions, and completed more bank and thrift mergers and acquisition transactions than any other law firm over the past 10 years.  For more information, visit www.luselaw.com.

Macquarie Capital is the corporate advisory, principal investing and capital markets arm of Macquarie Group, a global provider of financial services to institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world.  In the year ending March 31, 2014, Macquarie Capital advised on over 450 transactions valued at $83 billion.  For more information, please visit www.macquarie.com.

Mercer Capital is one of the largest business valuation and financial advisory firms in the nation.  Financial institutions represent the firm’s largest industry concentration.  Mercer Capital assists depository institutions, asset managers, insurance companies and specialty financial companies nationally with significant corporate valuation requirements, transactional advisory services and other strategic decisions.  For more information, visit www.mercercapital.com.

Miller Nash Graham & Dunn is a full-service business law firm with a primary focus on the financial services industry.  With a diverse client base throughout the West, their attorneys offer breadth and depth of industry knowledge and regulatory experience, and a proven track record of representing financial institutions, with mergers and acquisitions as a signature area of their practice.  For more information, please visit www.millernash.com.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has a nationally recognized financial institutions practice, serving in many cases as primary outside counsel for securities, M&A, bank regulatory and compliance issues, lending and loan work-out matters, employment, trademark, litigation and corporate governance matters.  They also represent investment banks and private equity investors that focus on financial services companies.  For more information, please visit www.nelsonmullins.com.

Norton Rose Fulbright LLP has over 1,000 lawyers globally who provide the full spectrum of legal advice to financial institutions.  Drawing upon their depth of M&A and securities experience and their detailed regulatory knowledge, they provide tailored advice on high-level and complex assignments for financial institutions.  For more information, please visit www.nortonrosefulbright.com.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX, OTCQB and OTC Pink financial marketplaces for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, including 600+ regional and community banks.  OTC Link® ATS, an SEC registered Alternative Trading System, directly links a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services for a wide spectrum of securities.  For more information, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

Paladin fs, LLC is a research and consulting firm possessing a proprietary knowledge base of market intelligence and pricing data on all outsourced services sold by every Core & IT service provider in the U.S.  CEOs and CFOs improve their negotiating strength by calling Paladin before their vendor when considering a contract renewal or purchasing new services and products.  For more information, please visit www.paladin-fs.com.

For 25 years, Pearl Meyer & Partners has been a trusted independent advisor to boards and senior management in compensation governance, strategy and program design.  The firm works with hundreds of banks, from de novo to large regional banks, on their specific business, regulatory, human resource and compensation needs.  The firm has offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, as well as London.  For more information, visit www.pearlmeyer.com.

PrecisionLender is a web-based pricing solution used by thousands of lenders daily to price nearly $6 billion in loans and deposits each month.  With PrecisionLender, loan officers can have constructive conversations focusing on the borrower’s needs allowing them to hand-craft a solution that works for both the borrower and bank.  For more information, please visit www.precisionlender.com.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provides comprehensive assurance, tax and advisory M&A services from pre-deal due diligence to post merger integration effectiveness.  They assist clients with their most challenging and complex issues.  For more information, visit www.pwc.com.

Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest full-service investment firms and operates nationwide through over 6,200 financial advisors. Client assets under management exceed $479 billion.  The firm makes active markets and provides equity research on over 1,300 publicly-traded companies.  The Financial Services Group specializes in serving banks, bank holding companies and thrift institutions in underwritten public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, takeover defenses and fairness opinions.  For more information, please visit www.raymondjames.com.

River Branch Capital LLC is an investment bank focused on financial services.  They are dedicated to providing customized solutions to their clients.  Their knowledge and experience, complemented by their national and international dealings and relationships, allow them to uniquely serve the needs of their clients.  They concentrate their efforts on a select group of partnerships and situations where they can add particular value.  For more information, please visit www.rbhllc.com.

Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. is a full-service investment banking firm focused on the financial services sector. It provides the full suite of investment banking services, including merger and acquisition advisory, capital markets, fixed income and equity trading and sales, equity research, balance sheet management, mortgage finance and consulting services.  For more information, please visit www.sandleroneill.com.

SBA Complete is a full-service SBA outsource and consulting firm focused on helping community banks effectively profit from SBA lending.  Founded by former senior bankers, SBA Complete has the technical expertise to ensure that their clients benefit from the lucrative programs of the SBA in a very cost effective way.  For more information, please visit www.sbacomplete.com.

Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking, a premier community bank financial advisor, has acted as a financial advisor in more than 250 transactions.  Sheshunoff has helped institutions nationwide optimize shareholder wealth with merger and acquisition advisory services, valuations, capital restructuring and strategic options assessment for more than 30 years.  Its professionals are dedicated to providing integrity driven services.  Sheshunoff knows community banking better than anyone.  For more information, please visit www.smslp.com.

SNL Banker is not the SNL you may know.  SNL Banker is a streamlined platform for business intelligence for community banks.  Built on SNL Banker’s data warehouse, it’s a comprehensive source for internal analysis, integrating your data to give you 360° insight into finance, credit & risk, operations and sales & marketing.  For more information, please visit www.snlbanker.com.

For over 100 years, Sterne Agee has served clients’ investment needs through various economic and market conditions.  As a registered broker/dealer and a member of the NYSE, they offer total solutions for investors at all levels.  For more information, please visit www.sterneagee.com.

Stinson Leonard Street LLP is one of the 75 largest firms in the U.S., with more than 520 attorneys and offices in 14 cities.  Their banking and financial services attorneys represent more than 400 financial institutions and confront banking issues on a daily basis.  For more information, please visit www.stinsonleonard.com.

StrategyCorps delivers game changing mobile banking and consumer checking related solutions to hundreds of financial institutions nationwide.  Their innovative solutions monetize mobile banking, generate customer-friendly fee income of about $75 per account annually from at least 40% of your retail checking accounts and build customer relationships way beyond what basic banking does.  For more information, please visit www.strategycorps.com.