Bryan Monteith is executive vice president and managing director of government guaranteed lending for Blue Ridge Bank, N.A. Mr. Monteith and his team work on a national scale with SBA, USDA and FSA lending programs.

Mr. Monteith is an accomplished financial professional with more than 25 years of experience in commercial banking with a wide range of banks, structures and transaction sizes. This experience allows him to use the full scope of USDA and SBA as well as other specialized programs on a national level to provide favorable structures for his clients.

Tee Shipmon is director of wholesale markets for The Bancorp, with 30 years of financial services experience. Mr. Shipmon manages the purchase of loan and lease assets for the bank’s small business lending and commercial fleet leasing businesses.

Prior to joining The Bancorp, Mr. Shipmon was SVP of specialty lending for Paragon Bank. He has gained experience in all aspects of commercial lending through his work for public national banks, small community banks and a private finance company. Mr. Shipmon was a founder of a private finance company that provided loans for short-term construction projects, mezzanine loans and financing for the music and film industries. He has been a member of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL) and the National Rural Lenders Association (NRLA).

Danny Skarda is chair and CEO of Interstate Bank. Mr. Skarda and his team manage two offices in the west Texas panhandle region. The bank’s primary focus is small commercial business. Serving 2 different markets, one being continued significant deposit growth and the other commercial loan growth.

Mr. Skarda has been in banking 46 years, and as a CEO since 1981. Having managed banks in New Mexico for 25 years, Montana for 10 years and Texas for 11 years. Mr. Skarda’s banking experience has included working for two publicly traded multi-bank holding companies, two family owned banks and a family owned bank inherited from his father that was managed and sold in 1995.

Garrett Smith is CEO and founder of Community Capital Technology Inc. (CCT), a multi-sided, digital marketplace for financial institutions, direct originators, marketplace lenders and other capital providers or investors, to buy, sell and/or participate loans of any type more efficiently.  

Prior to launching CCT, Mr. Smith was a founder and senior executive in two other technology-enabled marketplaces, both with successful exits.  He co-founded and served as president of Opportunity Network (ON), an international business networking platform supporting global financial institutions and their top commercial and private wealth clients.  Mr. Smith is a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle (YLC) and an active participant in the fintech community, frequently speaking about entrepreneurship, business strategy and financial technology innovation.