Bank Solutions Group

David was a co-founder of Southport Financial Corporation with Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance in 1986, and President of Southport Asset Management Corporation, managing in excess of $5 Billion USD for financial institutions, regulatory authorities and corporate pension accounts. Prior to that, he was an investment consultant specializing in corporate finance and investment banking.  David also served on the staff of the Executive Office of the President, and has been Chairman and/or director of various Banks and financial institutions, foundations and the National Small Business Alliance. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.

Larry, a 35-plus-year veteran of the banking industry, brings senior executive and consultant experience with expertise in lines of business, credit, treasury services, operations, finance and technology.  He has led engagements for community, national and international banks in strategy, pre- and post-merger integration, business and operational process re-design, revenue enhancement and challenged projects.  He holds a BA and MBA from California State University a commercial graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, completed coursework in managing IT resources at Harvard Business School, holds a project management professional (PMP) certification and is a certified credit professional (CCP).

Alan has over 35 years of banking experience, most recently as Director, President and CEO of an International Bermudian Bank with offices in 10 countries.  Previously, Alan was the President/CEO of a major Saudi Arabian Bank and prior to that he held various executive positions during his 23 years with First Interstate Bank.  He has extensive line operating experience in retail and corporate banking, wealth management, trust and asset management, and payment systems. He has direct experience in all aspects of banking, including credit, technology, compliance, finance, human resources, and strategic planning.  Alan has an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance and a BA from Claremont McKenna College.

Bob has over 29 years of experience in information technology, bank and credit card operations.  His expertise includes facilities management, merger and acquisition platform consolidations, operational and performance management, expense improvement, outsourcing selection and negotiation, modernization of internal systems and grooming of client staff to re-assume leadership at the end of projects. He also advises clients on capacity planning, service delivery quality, service cost benchmarking and industry peer performance, the application of dashboards and data warehouse technology.  He holds a Bachelor of Science and an MBA from the University of Kansas. His is bi-lingual English-Spanish.

Kim is a skilled facilitator, strategic developer and governance coach.  Kim has more than 30 years of experience working with credit unions, centrals, co-operatives and associated organizations including deposit insurance guarantee corporations.  Kim was a member of the executive management team and led the consulting group at Credit Union Central of British Columbia, now Central 1 Credit Union.  Previously, Kim was the chief executive of a multi-branch credit union.  Kim’s academic accomplishments include: MBA; attendance at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Institute; Fellow of the Credit Union Institute of Canada (FCUIC); Certified Management Consultant (CMC); and Certified Corporate Director (ICD.D).

Steve has over 25 years of experience in financial services and management consulting.  He has helped his clients build shareholder value by leading consulting engagements globally focused on productivity improvement, revenue enhancement, product pricing and resource allocation. Steve has served as the head of financial planning and analysis for a major asset management firm where he helped direct product and geographic expansion efforts. He also has extensive experience in procurement and proposal management and  financial modeling. Steve earned an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Bernard M. Baruch College.

David advises financial institution managements and Boards of Directors on corporate and capital markets strategy. He founded Riverway Global Capital and has held leadership positions at Genworth Financial and GE Asset Management, where he managed global bank fixed income investments. Earlier in his career he was Managing Director in GE Capital Market Services and Senior Vice President in Financial Institutions Banking at Irving Trust Company and The Bank of New York where he ran Capital Markets and Corporate Finance. He holds a BA degree in Political Economy from Williams College and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mike has nearly 25 years of experience in the payments and retail electronic banking industries.  His executive product management role at a major payments network provides perspectives on key product strategies including EMV/chip, mobile commerce and core product growth.  Mike also had responsibility for customer interface and electronic commerce initiatives within a major Canadian bank.  His consulting engagements have generated very positive results for high-profile North American financial. technology and government clients.

Bob has spent 25 years in management consulting and industry leadership roles delivering value and growth based solutions to organizations within the retail financial services ecosystem – banks, wealth management and payments providers. Bob’s functional expertise extends across the entire customer life cycle. His core competencies include market/competitor analysis, customer segmentation, product/ channel development, acquisitions/marketing effectiveness, and operations/call center efficiency and process design. Bob also has deep expertise in the areas of M&A due diligence, post merger integration and technology alignment, prioritization and program management. Bob has a degree in Economics from Villanova University and an MBA in finance from the Mendoza School of Business, University of Notre Dame.

Keith has over thirty years of experience in Information Technology. He has managed the IT division supporting Capital markets and loan operations for a major global bank. He has led the sales team on large IT outsourcing transactions for a top IT consulting firm. He has led consulting engagements for financial institutions in over 20 countries. His area of expertise includes strategic IT planning, IT consolidation in mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing selection and negotiation, benchmarking and service level design. Keith holds a Ph.D. and MBA in Finance from New York University and a M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University.

James has 30 years of experience in regulatory compliance. He is a specialist in compliance in consumer and real estate lending; BSA; CRA; Fair Lending; Consumer Operations; Non-Deposit Investment Products; Note Department Operations; Assessment of ALL and Credit Approval Process. He has served as a Senior Compliance Examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco; Analytical Manager at the Office of Thrift Supervision; and Commissioned National Bank Examiner at the OCC. He has a Certificate from the Pacific Coast Banking School of Bank Management, a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco with a concentration in banking and finance, and a BA from Dartmouth College. He is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Management and Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

Russ has over 44 years of experience in the financial services industry as a senior manager and consulting facilitator and strategist to over 400 clients throughout North America.  He has led numerous educational programs directed at CEOs, Senior Lending Professionals and Senior Back- Office Professionals.  Russ’ experience includes engagements for revenue enhancement, process benchmarking, and process improvement projects.  His expertise includes facilitating  change management, workflow design, technology utilization, deposit and loan operations, commercial, consumer and mortgage lending, retail banking, expense management, revenue  generation, staffing and scheduling, benchmarking, and paperless banking.

David Flores is a Partner at Bank Solutions Group, LLC, (BSG) where he is the Practice Leader for Business Banking with over 40 years of domestic and international banking (Chase) and management consulting (Booz Allen) experience. David founded and was President/CEO of a Bank in N.C. Prior to that he held executive positions at multiple financial institutions.  His expertise is in designing, building and implementing end-to-end solutions to complex issues and strategic opportunities by leveraging his broad-based multi-disciplinary experience.  David holds Standard and Advanced certificates from the American Institute of Banking in New York and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.

Chris is a recognized expert in the design, development, application and optimization of business intelligence systems for banks and credit unions. He has over 25 years of experience combining his subject matter expertise in data governance, information management, analytics and financial management with technical expertise in finance systems and business intelligence to produce transformational change and competitive advantage.   Chris has held leadership roles through his career including Regional Controller, Chief Information Officer and Chief Accountant.  While his career has covered many domains and disciplines a common thread has been the transformation of data into strategic management information.

Jim has over 39 years of experience in banking strategy, retail operations, formation, recovery and repair.  He has extensive experience with State and Federal regulators, fixing and liquidation of failed banks. His expertise is in regulatory management, bank operations, audit, consumer lending, customer service, private banking, sales and cross selling, and managing bank performance.  His experience includes Board formation and administration thereof, contingency planning, and conversion plans and execution. He assists banks in leveraging their financial services, maximizing ROE and achieving a favorable overhead ratio. Jim is a graduate of the School for Bank Administration, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

John Muell, a BSG Partner and retail banking practice leader, with almost 40 years of financial services experience in both banking and consulting, has led major projects in national and international financial institutions.  His primary focus is the retail banking arena and related support functions, such as operations, risk management, and other administrative areas.  He has significant experience in implementing organizational, process and product design, merger and consolidation, technology, and other types of change with clients ranging in size from community banks to large institutions of just under a trillion in assets with 1200 branches. He has spoken at conferences on profit improvement, Retail Banking best practices and strategy.

Jeff has over 33 years of Banking experience working with Regional, National, and International Bank’s. His responsibilities spanned Branch Banking Networks, Small Business, Business Banking Teams, and Private Advisory Groups. Jeff also has significant experience building and leading Retail Banking, Commercial Lending, and Private Banking teams. Jeff has built, implemented, and led highly successful sales management programs. As a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a major in Accounting and minors in both Finance and Management Jeff has a strong technical and financial training and background. He has led high profile projects across complex organizations and has provided consulting services for large national and international consulting firms.

John has more than 30 years of executive management experience in the financial services industry working for major banks, the Federal Reserve Bank and recognized management consulting firms, encompassing a wide range of domestic and international assignments.  He has extensive experience assisting clients in strategic planning, financial analysis, shared services, back office and ATM operations, compliance, retail bank fee strategies and outsourcing selection and negotiation.  He has specific expertise in project design, implementation, and management, as well as budget and investment control for business planning.

Miguel has over 30 years of experience in the financial services and payments sector having held diverse management positions with business development responsibility for Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. He has worked with leading multinational enterprises such as Citicorp, Chase, Evertec, Visa International, and MasterCard Worldwide with responsibilities ranging from managing issuing business, product development and launches, development and management of acquisition, activation, and usage campaigns, marketing and public relations, and business development. His expertise includes strategic new market entry, growth and communication strategies. He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and is fluent in Spanish.

Fred has over 20 years of experience in consulting, working with clients in North America, Europe and Latin America. He has managed numerous performance improvement projects in small and large banks, addressing both efficiency improvement and revenue growth. His experience also includes business strategy development, strategic due diligence, technology and market entry strategies, reengineering and organizational change. He spent 10 years with a multinational electronics company, working in research and strategic planning. He holds a M.Sc. from the University of Louvain and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cologne. He speaks English, German, French and Dutch.

After more than 20 years as a banker during which he twice, as CEO, turned around community banks in problem situations, Dick became a consultant in 1985.  He has led earnings improvement engagements for top tier banks in the U.S. and in six foreign countries.  More recently, Dick has worked with banks under supervisory agreements and with the FDIC in the disposition of problem portfolios.  He assists clients in all phases of loan origination and administration.  He has published articles and delivered numerous training sessions on banking subjects for the ABA, BAI, RMA and various state banking associations.

Carlos has 35 years of experience in financial services operations and technology.  He served as Operations Director at two large banks in Mexico.  He led major initiatives in the U.S. and Mexico involving back office and technology platform performance, risk, efficiency and productivity improvement.  He directed the integration of banks from 120 to 1,000 branches and optimized operational workflows and capacity to support significant growth for payment cards, consumer credit and mortgage lending.  He has an MBA from the University of Nuevo Leone, a Masters in Quality and Productivity from the Monterrey Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of the Operations and Technology program at Vanderbilt University.

Rich has over 25 years financial services and payments industry experience and 8 years as a consultant.  He is responsible for assisting clients in developing corporate strategies, retail banking and payments initiatives.  With strong marketing, financial, contract management and negotiation skills; he has assisted numerous financial services clients with business-to-business marketing, product management and development, systems design, payments strategic planning and implementation.  Rich holds an MS degree in Computer Information Systems as well as an MBA from Georgia State University. He also holds a BS from Cornell University.

Doug has 28 years of experience in banking and consulting. As a consultant he helped clients with strategic financial analysis techniques and financial planning and reporting requirements. In his banking career he held positions as CFO of the US and Latin America private banking, wealth management, and trust lines of business within large US banks. His responsibilities included revenue and expense reporting and analysis, financial management of the business as well as strategic planning and sales management MIS. He is a CPA and earned his MBA and BS degrees from Cornell University.

Geoff has over 29 years’ experience in marketing, business strategy and customer service operations in Canada and the UK.  His expertise in product development and start-up roles includes launching new payment products, retail businesses, loyalty programs and customer segmentation initiatives.  His experience at a major North American retailer enables him to provide insight on how retailers can leverage their financial services organization and extend their business into financial and other value-added services.  He led one of North America’s leading customer service operations, and brings the expertise to his client solutions.  Geoff holds an MBA from Richard Ivey School of Business and a Bachelor of Science  from Queen’s University.

Gary, with a 30-plus year career in banking and lending, brings broad executive experience along with hands on leadership in single family, commercial real estate, and commercial lending as well as compliance.  His passion is seeking and implementing the most efficient process to produce revenue within risk management parameters and regulatory guidance.  As one of the three executive officers of Coastal Banc, a Texas savings bank, he led most aspects of thirteen acquisitions including whole bank transactions.  His experience includes consulting, fraud and loss investigations, and regulatory work with the Federal Deposit Insurance Association.  Alumnus of the University of Kansas.

Mike has over 30 years of global financial services industry and consulting experience in banking technology, backroom operations and payment systems.  His expertise includes IT delivery systems and backroom operations evaluation / planning and is proficient in IT service improvement. business and IT alignment, data center strategy, systems integration, outsourcing / facilities management, software development / project management, Request for Proposal (RFP) development and evaluation / Gap Analysis and ITIL process / development / control.  His recent activities have included managing client projects in the U.S., Canada and Latin America involving re-engineering of their operations and technology processes.

Maati brings 16 years of experience in the financial services industry to clients, with a focus on commercial cards.  He specializes in client onboarding, relationship and project management, product enhancement and operational efficiency.  Maati has consulted with a number of Fortune 500 clients on commercial cards best practices and developed innovative solutions to drive efficiency, facilitate change, and encourage revenue growth and customer retention.  He has led many strategic initiatives in conjunction with vendors and internal partners, including major portfolio conversions.

Jeff has over 30 years of global financial services industry and consulting experience, with a concentration in Canada, the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean and Brazil.  He is a recognized expert in intra-inter bank electronic and check payment systems, domestic and cross-border cash management and remittance services, back office operations, service delivery and technology systems.  His expertise includes workflow and process review and reengineering, internal and external control systems, risk management, merger integration, service quality, cost improvement and staffing optimization.  He assists industry and banking clients in developing cutting edge solutions to streamline and enhance their business processes.

Reid has over 35 years of financial services industry and consulting experience. He has worked in a variety of regional banking firms as well as community banks as a Chief Financial Officer. As a consultant, Reid worked on engagements in South America, the Caribbean, Canada and the United States. He has extensive experience in Financial Modeling, Strategic Planning, Profit Improvement and Process Reengineering. Reid also has extensive experience with the financial services regulatory environment on the state and national levels. He holds a Bachelor of Administrative Science degree from Guilford College and obtained his CPA certificate in 1983.

César is responsible for the development and implementation of consulting projects for major U.S. and international clients.  He has over 15 years financial services industry experience and 10 years consulting experience.  He has worked on a wide range of engagements in the retail banking, commercial banking, payments, and transaction processing industries.  César earned an M.B.A. from the American Graduate School of International Management, Thunderbird, a Master in Finance and Banking from Universidad de Lima and a Bachelor of Economics from Universidad de Lima, and a Bachelor of Economics from Universidad del Pacifico.

David is a senior banker with more than twenty-three years of hands-on branch management, branch administration, retail operations and SME lending experience. As a management consultant for the past 15 years, he has leveraged his expertise on a wide cross-section of bank projects encompassing operational redesign, business strategy, system integration and business transformation.  He has led projects not only in the United States, but also in Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Croatia, Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore.  His experience includes both traditional and Islamic banking.  David holds a BS degree in Finance from Miami University and an MBA from John Carroll University.