Gayle Appelbaum is a partner at McLagan’s corporate and consumer banking consulting practice, based out of the Minneapolis office. Ms. Appelbaum brings over 30 years of experience to her clients. Her extensive knowledge of compensation trends and the banking industry, coupled with her keen ability to understand each client’s needs, enables her to create solutions unique to each situation. She specializes in developing incentive compensation plans that balance short and long-term risk while building shareholder value. Ms. Appelbaum’s expertise encompasses the full spectrum of compensation and benefits issues, including corporate governance, pay-for-performance, risk assessment, taxation, regulatory compliance and compensation agreement provisions.

Eric Corrigan is a senior managing director and head of the financial institutions group of Commerce Street Capital, LLC.  He advises companies on mergers and acquisitions, balance sheet restructuring, business plan development and the private placement of capital for initial and secondary offerings, having advised on over $30 billion of strategic transactions and $35 billion of capital raises in a career spanning nearly 30 years.

Prior to joining Commerce Street in 2017, Mr. Corrigan was with FBR Capital Markets, and has spent portions of his career at KBW, Fox-Pitt Kelton and Citigroup, having started his investment banking at Salomon Brothers Inc.  In addition, he worked as a bank holding company examiner for the Denver branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve District.

Craig Sanders is a partner at Moss Adams LLP.  He oversees consulting services to the firm’s financial services clients. Prior to joining Moss Adams, Mr. Sanders was the president and CEO of a financial services consulting firm that provided IT security, regulatory compliance and internal audit services.

Laura Schield is the Chief Operating Officer & President of Bank Director and FinXTech, and has served in numerous roles with the company since her start in 2010. Her primary focus is overseeing the day-to-day operational functions of the company. She is responsible for leading the planning and production of conferences and events, handling all aspects of human resources and managing the teams responsible for data, circulation, accounting and finance. She also integrates and implements new projects as the company continues to grow. Laura is a member of Bank Director’s board of directors and serves on the Executive Committee.