Rick Maroney is senior managing director at Hovde Group, LLC. He will help lead Hovde’s newest office in Toledo, Ohio and continue to serve depository institutions in the midwest and surrounding areas.

Mr. Maroney has a long history advising community banks on mergers and acquisitions, most recently with ProBank Austin, having started his career in 1984 with Austin Associates, LLC, the predecessor to ProBank. In addition to advising on more than 100 successful M&A transactions, he has extensive experience in preparing stock valuations, facilitating strategic planning and evaluating capital planning strategies, among other specialized services.

Mr. Maroney served as an instructor at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and has appeared as a featured speaker at the Acquire or Be Acquired national conference, sponsored by Bank Director Magazine. He is licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as a registered representative and holds the Series 7, 63 and 79 licenses.

Dan Flaherty is a managing director of investment banking at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.

Prior to joining Janney in 2019, Mr. Flaherty was a principal and partner at FIG Partners LLC, a premier investment banking and research firm specializing in community banks. Before FIG Partners, he was a senior analyst at Sterne Agee and spent 5 years as an analyst at the Carson Medlin Company. He has more than 15 years of investment banking experience advising community banks.

Laura Hay is a partner and lead consultant at Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC.  She has 25 years of experience advising institutions on executive compensation and its related governance.  Specializing in banks, insurance, diversified financials and government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), she believes that financial institutions provide the foundation for a strong economy and that good corporate governance results in long term sustainability and shareholder value.

Ms. Hay advises boards and management teams on a broad array of compensation issues.  Recent projects include compensation decision-making related to merger and acquisitions, equity plan strategy, pay and performance alignment, line of business compensation and proxy advisor guideline interpretation and consultation.

Ms. Hay is a certified compensation professional (CCP), a senior professional in human resources (SPHR) and a SHRM senior certified professional (SHRM-SCP).

Flynt Gallagher is the president of Newcleus Compensation Advisors. He leads in its mission of assisting clients in attracting, motivating and retaining personnel critical to achieving success. Mr. Gallagher brings considerable experience and expertise to his role of providing CA’s clients with comprehensive and effective support. He combines extensive knowledge of accounting and income tax matters related to community banks with years of experience within the financial services industry.

Mr. Gallagher’s career began in the field of public accounting and continued for 10 years while moving into manager and partner positions with a regional firm before accepting the tax manager positions with Florida National Bank and First Union National Bank. He worked with key clients of these banks on compensation, wealth management, income tax and related IRS issues. Mr. Gallagher established his own consulting firm and began offering these services to the banking community for the past 20 years.

Kevin Toomey is a partner at Arnold & Porter. He represents banks and other financial services companies, along with their boards of directors and senior management, in a wide range of enforcement, regulatory and corporate governance matters. Mr. Toomey has deep and broad experience representing institutional and individual clients before the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, Department of Justice, CFPB, FinCEN and OFAC. Many of those matters have involved complex, sensitive investigations involving multiple agencies and parties. As part of his public service and private practice, he has developed expertise in areas such as federal and state banking laws and regulations, consumer protection statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements.

Chambers USA has recognized Mr. Toomey as a leading lawyer in the nationwide category of financial services regulation: banking (enforcement and investigations), and has highlighted that major financial institutions often seek his counsel to lead their response to investigative and enforcement proceedings involving multiple government agencies.

Mark Kanaly is a partner and co-chair of Alston & Bird’s Corporate Area, which includes its corporate & securities, finance, financial services, health care, and real estate groups. 

Previously, Mr. Kanaly served as chair of the firm’s partners committee and chair of the firm’s financial services & products group.  He represents corporate clients, with a focus on players in the financial services arena.  Mr. Kanaly assists these companies with mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, public and private capital raising transactions, corporate governance, and a host of related regulatory matters.

Mr. Kanaly has worked on some of the most innovative and recognized transactions in the country.  He regularly counsels boards of directors regarding strategic planning, regulatory entanglements, and internal corporate governance matters.  He is a nationally recognized speaker on various corporate topics, and his comments are regularly covered in the business press.  Mr. Kanaly is listed as a leading attorney for Banking & Finance: Regulatory in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and for both Banking & Finance and Corporate Law in The Best Lawyers in America®, as well as being listed as Atlanta “Lawyer of the Year” for his work in Securities/Capital Markets Law for 2022.

Cory Kronheim is a partner at Crowe LLP. He has over 11 years of experience with Crowe providing a variety of client services in the financial services industry. His experience includes banking clients ranging from $100 million to over $20 billion in assets and financing companies averaging $150 million in assets. Mr. Kronheim has deep specialization in auditing financial institution mergers and acquisitions and SOX 404 internal control audits.

John Behringer is a partner in risk consulting at RSM US LLP.  He works with clients ranging in size from $100 million to over $100 billion.  He has over 20 years of public accounting experience working specifically with commercial banks, both privately and publicly held, de novo institutions, mortgage banks, investment companies and broker dealers.  Mr. Behringer focuses on providing advisory and risk management consulting services to commercial banks.  He has extensive experience providing internal and external audit services, loan review and credit administration risk management services.  These services include SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley and FDICIA reporting issues, internal controls implementation and ongoing compliance services. 

In addition to his client service responsibilities, Mr. Behringer serves as a facilitator for the national accounting and advisory services continuing education programs.  As an industry leader, he presents at industry and professional conferences on current banking and accounting issues.

Anne Arvia is a principal at Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. She is a strategic financial services leader experienced as a CEO, CFO and a public company board member and audit committee chair. With expertise in operational management, distribution and multi-disciplinary models, Ms. Arvia excels at guiding organizations through market shifts. She is known for attracting top talent and developing high-performing teams.

Prior to joining Cornerstone Advisors, Ms. Arvia held executive leadership positions at The Auto Club Group, USAA Bank, Nationwide Insurance and ShoreBank. Her achievements include starting a bank, strategically transforming another, merging and integrating 3 banks and converting a bank to a digital-only platform with real-time customer experiences. She has been recognized as one of US Banker’s “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” three times, as well as being named among Crain’s Chicago Business’ “100 Most Influential Women” and “Forty Under 40.” Ms. Arvia is a certified public accountant.

Mark Boettcher is a partner at Baker Tilly US, LLP. Mr. Boettcher’s background includes his current role serving in the risk, internal audit and cybersecurity practice, as well as years spent in the external audit practice. His experiences focus primarily within the financial services industry but also includes experience in the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries. Mr. Boettcher has extensive experience with System and Organization Controls reporting. He has experience with Sarbanes Oxley compliance for public companies, both with external audit reporting and as an outsourced consultant. He performs both operational and information technology risk assessments, internal audits and various consulting projects.