Paul Allen, CPA, CGMA
Director | Saltmarsh

Paul is a director in Saltmarsh’s Financial Institution Consulting practice with over 40 years of experience in public accounting, financial leadership, and bank advisory services. He specializes in accounting, risk management, and strategic planning and has served on multiple boards and banking school faculties.

Kristen Stogniew, Esq., CFE
Shareholder | Saltmarsh

Kristen leads the Financial Institution Consulting practice with over 25 years of experience advising on legal, operational, and compliance matters in financial services. She provides consulting, training, and mentorship to banks and financial institutions, speaks at industry events, and teaches at top banking schools.

Josh Strickland, CPA
Shareholder | Saltmarsh

Josh is a shareholder in Saltmarsh’s Financial Institution Consulting practice, specializing in risk management, regulatory compliance, and strategic planning. He has extensive experience advising financial institutions on internal controls, governance, and operational efficiency.

Lorraine Faust, CRCM
Director of Fair Lending | Saltmarsh

Lorraine specializes in fair lending analysis, regulatory change management, and risk assessments. She has worked with financial institutions of all sizes, assisting with compliance, merger due diligence, and regulatory examinations by the FDIC, FRB, and CFPB. Passionate about collaboration, she enjoys sharing best practices and helping organizations navigate the complexities of regulatory risk.

Jason Keith, CIA, CISA
Senior Manager | Saltmarsh

Jason is a senior technology risk consulting manager at Saltmarsh, specializing in information security and compliance for highly regulated industries. With over 20 years of experience, he has held leadership roles in risk management, IT, and operations, including CIO and COO.

Michael Finley
Manager | Saltmarsh

Michael is a manager in Saltmarsh’s Financial Institutions practice with over 30 years of experience in commercial lending, risk management, and quality assurance. He provides loan review services and previously held senior roles in credit risk and operations at a top 10 U.S. bank.

Julie Longabach
Manager | Saltmarsh

With over 25 years of accounting and management experience, Julie has a strong background in financial institutions. She previously held senior management roles, including CFO, at community banks and served as a Bank Examiner for the State of Florida, specializing in complex institutions. Julie's expertise spans financial and regulatory reporting, audits, asset liability management, ALCO, and BSA.

Sallie O'Brien, AAP, APRP
Senior | Saltmarsh

Sallie has over 19 years of experience working with financial institutions. Sallie specializes in risk-based Nacha compliance audits and provides ACH-consulting services to the firm’s financial institution industry clients. Sallie was a senior director of education at a regional consulting firm where she provided payment education and Nacha compliance programming for third-party providers.

Michael Maricelli, CIA, CISA, AAP
Senior | Saltmarsh

Michael specializes in providing information security assessments, vulnerability and penetration testing, third-party risk management reviews, risk-based Nacha compliance audits and digital banking reviews. Michael has over 14 years of financial institution experience and has held positions in mortgage lending and internal audit. 

Jake Thurman
Senior | Saltmarsh

Jake has over 12 years of experience working with financial institutions. He began his career with an investment bank that specialized in investment portfolio management for community financial institutions across the country. Jake's primary areas of concentration are asset/liability management including interest rate risk modeling and liquidity management.

Susann Goar, CAFP
Senior | Saltmarsh

Susann joined Saltmarsh in 2005 and recently returned to Saltmarsh after 2.5 years of holding a position at a publicly traded bank in Miami as SVP/Audit Manager. Susann’s primary areas of consulting include deposit and lending operations, with a focus on FDICIA 363 consulting and testing, as well as Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance. She also has experience as an Operational Risk Analyst.

Ginger Devine
EVP/Chief Risk Officer | Citizens First Bank

Ginger's banking career began in 1999 and includes serving as a teller, customer service representative, internal auditor, deposit operations manager, BSA Officer, Compliance and CRA Officer.  Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and Certified Enterprise Risk Professional (CERP).  As a risk officer her most important role is that of advisor, building and developing relationships to ensure a successful program is cultivated. 

Jonathan Turner, ACFE Regents
VP Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer | Avanos Medical

Jonathan Turner is the Vice President and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at Avanos Medical, where he oversees the global ethics and compliance program, ensuring ethical and legally compliant operations, with a strong focus on fraud prevention and detection. Jonathan brings over 30 years of experience in designing and implementing compliance programs, particularly in the banking and medical device industries.

Jen Saylor
Senior Director, Banking Products & Services | Credit Karma

Jen solution-focused executive with expertise in multi-location operations, regulatory compliance, and risk management. She has a strong background in enterprise-wide technology implementations. A motivational leader, Jen is skilled at improving business outcomes through targeted training and maximizes resources and forges productive partnerships to drive results, transforming both start-ups and established institutions.

Nick Schuster
National Sales Director | Cash Transactions

Nick is a trusted professional with a strong track record in helping clients develop integrated strategies to improve branch efficiency, product development, and customer loyalty. He is passionate about delivering measurable results and fostering organizational growth. Currently, Nick collaborates with experts to create outsourced bank automation and retail delivery solutions, including ATMs and tailored payment systems for the Financial Services Industry.

Brian Waters, CRCM
President/COO | findCRA

With 25 years in compliance management, Brian leads operations, sales, and marketing at findCRA. Since co-founding the company in 2013, he has driven its growth into a nationally recognized RegTech leader. Brian’s 15 years in banking include CRA, fair lending, HMDA, loan operations, and BSA/AML, managing regulatory compliance during bank M&A activities. He is a columnist for ABA Risk and Compliance Magazine.

Kevin Tran
Partner | Nelson Mullins

Kevin assists financial institutions and technology clients with financial regulatory, securities, and corporate matters. He focuses on the representation of early stage, mid-stage, and publicly traded FinTech companies focused on blockchain technology, digital assets, and cryptocurrencies, including broker-dealers, digital asset and currency trading platforms, digital asset custodians, alternative trading systems, and securities exchanges.

Scott Gupton
EVP/COO | INSBANK

Scott serves as an Executive Officer, overseeing the INSBANK's operations, facilities, employees, and data to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations. He leads efforts in process improvement and efficiency, benefiting all stakeholders and ensuring operational excellence. Scott develops, implements, and oversees operational policies and procedures, providing leadership and collaborating with all areas to execute strategic initiatives.

Chris Black
CEO | Thread Bank

Chris Black serves as CEO, President and Director at Thread Bancorp, Inc. and Thread Bank. Previously, he was EVP/CFO of Franklin Financial Network and Franklin Synergy Bank. He was also SVP/CFO, Banking at FirstBank. Prior to community banking, he worked with ISI Group and Merrill Lynch focused on the banking sector. Chris received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Auburn University.

Jeremy Hopwood
President | 5ironCyber

Jeremy held the position of CISO at Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ: PNFP) for 10 years, 
from 2014 to 2023. During this time, he led cybersecurity operations as the bank expanded from $7B in assets to more than $50B, becoming a top 50 bank in the United States. As CEO at 5ironCyber, Hopwood launched the organization into the financial industry and has since led expansion into additional industries including Insurance, Healthcare, and Oil & Gas.

Regina Philips, CRCM 
Compliance Director | Raymond James Bank

Regina has extensive experience in consumer and commercial lending. She has worked with secondary market entities like Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank investors, and state housing finance programs in Wisconsin and Florida. Regina’s expertise includes loan documentation, SBA and FSA Guaranteed loans, and software implementation as a loan software administrator for LaserPro.

Elvis Huff, MS
Director of Information Security | Wilson Bank & Trust

Elvis manages fraud, information security, and security operations at Wilson Bank. As Information Security Officer, he designs, manages, and maintains a robust InfoSec Program that exceeds GLBA standards. He serves as a liaison with federal, state, and local law enforcement, ensuring all processes are executed securely. 

Natasha Simmons
BSA Officer | Pendleton Community Bank

Natahsa Simmons joined PCB in 2016 and has most recently held the title of BSA Assistant. Based in Harrisonburg, Natasha has supported the VP/Director of Compliance with fraud detection and maintaining PCB’s compliance within the Bank Secrecy Act regulations. With her new title, Natasha will now oversee the BSA Department and continue to ensure PCB’s overall compliance with regulations. Natasha is a Pendleton County native and completed the ICBA BSA/AML Institute. 

Josh Beasley
VP/Compliance Director | Wilson Bank & Trust

Josh manages the department responsible for HMDA and CRA data collection, validation, and submission. He previously served as the AVP-Loan Development Center Manager and a HMDA and CRA Data Analyst, where he collected, verified, and entered data for regulatory submissions and Fair Lending reports. Josh started his career at the bank as a Loan Review Analyst.

Colin Barrett
President/CEO | Tennessee Bankers Association

Carrie Birky
VP/Risk Operations Officer | Commercial Bank & Trust

Madison Beale
Fraud Manager | Wilson Bank & Trust