Travis Geiser

Hovde Group LLC is a leading boutique investment bank that has been providing advisory services to the financial services sector for over 30 years. The private company offers a full suite of investment banking, capital markets, research, equity sales, and trading services to its clients, including institutional and retail investors, community and regional banks, and other financial companies located throughout the United States. The company is based in Inverness, IL, and has subsidiaries in the United States. Hovde Group consistently ranks among the bank sector's top M&A and capital markets advisory firms, is a leading market maker of community and regional bank stocks, and produces high-quality research from award-winning analysts. The American company was founded in 1987 by Steven Donald Hovde, who has been the CEO since then.

Founded in 1964, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. is a full service investment firm and registered broker/dealer headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The firm's expertise includes retail and institutional brokerage services, investment banking and underwriting, secondary trading of corporate, municipal, and government securities and market making in over-the-counter stocks. The firm is a member of the NYSE and FINRA.

SNL Financial LC provides financial and industry data, research, news and analytics to investment professionals, government agencies and corporations. Its products include SNL unlimited, news, SNLbanker, performance graph, support and training and SNL knowledge center. The firm provides news, financial data and analysis on business sectors, which includes, banking, insurance, financial services, real estate, energy and media and communications. SNL Financial was founded by Reid Nagle and Jessica Nagle in 1987 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA.