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President, Fintech Practice Chair Expertise Daniel Wheeler is a financial services innovator who brings creativity, sound judgment and intellectual rigor to his work. Dan is adept at supervising teams and cultivating talent, risk management, and building a strong, sustainable enterprise. Dan is effective in building rapport and credibility with regulators. Dan functions as an R&D lab for his financial services clients, helping them invent businesses and products through innovative regulatory strategy. This includes helping clients decide on a regulatory identity that best suits their cost and operational constraints. Mr. Wheeler helps clients solve significant regulatory challenges. Sometimes this involves intervention and advocacy with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, CFPB, FinCEN and state financial regulators, as well as negotiation of enforcement actions. Dan has deep experience in guiding banks, fintechs, and crypto companies in solving challenges, including litigation or disputes among banks, vendors and service providers. Other times it may be in strategic partnerships or acquisitions. Dan has advised lenders in efficiently and safely closing a wide variety of credit transactions, including large syndicated loans, master trust indenture transactions, asset-based and commercial real estate loans and the related interest rate swap transactions. Mr. Wheeler has advised on loan administration, collections and enforcement, sales of loan portfolios, loan participations, and intercreditor agreements. FISC Ventures Dan advises and oversees a boutique consultancy, FISC Ventures, whose professionals’ services complement and enhance Dan’s legal services. Experience Founder, Director and CEO of Sunstone Trust Company, a de novo bank in California. Inventor of the innovative TrustCard credit card to provide automated high touch fiduciary and liquidity services to the wealth management industry. Inventor of the innovative Safeguard credit card to revolutionize secured credit card lending and secure asset storage. General Counsel of Cred, an early entrant in the crypto lending and yield space. Design the company’s consumer and business financial products, manage license applications, handle regulatory relations, implement and oversee a compliance infrastructure, design and implement a corporate lending and international securitization process, design innovative crypto-based employee compensation programs, and advise on all other aspects of the enterprise. Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner -- Lead firm-wide Financial Technology practice team serving financial technology and banking industries; represent banks, financial technology companies and non-bank lenders on a range of lending, operational and regulatory matters. President, San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association. Thought Leadership “Optimal Stablecoin Design,” Amazon e-book published June 2025. “A Pegged USD Stablecoin Increases and Improves the Money Supply,” December 2023 “Charter Options for Fintech and Non-Traditional Banking Organizations,” American Bar Association, Business Law Section, Hybrid Spring Meeting, April 28, 2023 "The Promise and Substantial Risks of the US Digital Dollar" San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association, April 4, 2022 "The OCC Fintech Charter: Gamechanger or Lead Balloon?" San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association, April 3, 2017 "Fintech Lending: How Community Bankers Can Benefit and What they Need to Know," The Risk Management Association - Orange County, February 23, 2017 "OCC Could Gain Power as Other Agencies Fall Out of Favor," American Banker, December 2016 "The OCC Rises, the FSOC Dies, and Other Regulatory Predictions," BankBryanCave.com, November 2016 "Gaining a Competitive Advantage through Regtech," FinXTech, July 2016 "Banks and Marketplace Lenders Absorb a Blow," BankBryanCave.com, June 2016 “Blockchain opportunities and risks for large, and community, banks," Financial Regulation International, March 2016 "Reporting Marketplace Loan Data to Bureaus No Easy Task," American Banker, BankThink, March 2016 OCC Fintech Charters: What Will It Take to Get One?, Bryan Cave webinar, December 16, 2016 "Emerging Trends - What's Next for Banking and Fintech?" VCPE Conference: Navigating Changes, December 1, 2016 "RegTech – The Emergence of Financial Technology (FinTech) in Regulatory Compliance," Regtech - Do we need it?, November 15, 2016 "How to NOT be Robbed of Your Bank: Coping with Operation Chokepoint," California Pawnbrokers Association (CAPA) 60th Annual Convention, October 28-30, 2016 "A Clear-eyed View of a Bank’s Regulatory Enforcement Risks," California Bankers Association 38th Annual Regulatory Compliance Conference, October 4-7, 2016 "How do we deal with Fintech?," Western Independent Bankers 2016 Education Summit and Expo, September 25-28, 2016 "An Update on Payroll Card Law," American Conference Institute 15th Annual Forum on Prepaid Card Compliance, June 2-3, 2016 https://fisc.ventures/niru-pande daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/fe505b62-2703-4072-8e29-4a53bc08952f/DSC08249_%282%29.jpg Niru Pande - Niru Pande Of Counsel, Financial Institution Regulatory Expertise Niru Pande is a seasoned bank regulatory and compliance professional with twenty years of banking, bank regulatory, risk management, and compliance experience. Niru spent 13 years of his career as a bank regulator, including ten with the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Boston, and Philadelphia, developing regulatory expertise across a variety of disciplines including corporate governance, regulatory applications, wealth management, enforcement actions, and enterprise risk management. Niru led or participated in nearly 200 regulatory examinations and inspections of traditional community and regional banks, large systemically important organizations, bankers banks, and nonfinancial institutions, with total assets ranging from $50 million to $225 billion. Niru has expertise in comprehending, interpreting, and applying a fully taxonomy of federal bank regulations to financial institution activities, has planned and executed regulatory examinations of distressed banks under heightened regulatory supervision, and monitored and measured institutions' compliance with and resolution of outstanding enforcement actions. Niru has also served as an officer and in-house counsel at several community and regional banks. He is experienced in the laws and regulations governing the operation of bank trust departments. Niru is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia, with admission pending in the State of California. Niru is a member of several industry groups, including the American Bar Association, Banking Law Committee; the D.C. Bar Association; and the San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association. The Fintech Consultant Niru works with a boutique consultancy, The Fintech Consultant, whose professionals’ services complement and enhance Niru’s legal services (https://the-fintech-consultant.com). https://fisc.ventures/gary-steven-findley daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/5b41b070-051f-4fcd-b883-74f7f74f003b/GFindley.png Gary Steven Findley - Gary Steven Findley Gary Steven Findley & Associates (a separate law firm) Community Banking Legal Expertise Gary Steven Findley, Esq. is President of Gary Steven Findley & Associates, a law firm specializing in banking law whose areas of expertise include regulatory relations/legal work, mergers and acquisitions, securities, corporate representation, regulatory enforcement action counseling, and capital restoration programs. Gary has been practicing for over 40 years and the Findley name has been synonymous with the community banking industry since the early 1960s when Gerry Findley started a management consulting practice. Gary often co-counsels with Dan Wheeler in serving clients in common. Gary is a specialist in creating and legally shepherding new and innovative programs for financial institutions. In addition, he counsels boards of directors and senior managements on maintaining safe and sound financial conditions in a changing and challenging environment. Gary provides not only legal analysis and representation but also incorporates financial consulting into his practice to provide financial clients with a different perspective in an ever-changing banking environment. Financial institutions, in this complex world of legal and regulatory initiatives, must receive the best in legal representation tempered with a specialized and knowledgeable understanding of the business of banking. Gary provides a level of risk management and regulatory concurrence to legal processes that is not readily available from other law firms. For example, he and his team provide ongoing direction and support to the directors and management of independent banking institutions. He specializes in dealing with corporate organization and regulatory intervention, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and filings, regulatory filings and intervention, expansion of new products and services and compensation program development. Gary Steven Findley & Associates provides legal guidance tempered with business banking knowledge to help institutions achieve "Premier Performance." Gary has successfully led the organization of more “de novo” banks in California than any other single attorney in California, having overseen the chartering of over 120 institutions in his career. Gary has also worked on hundreds of merger transactions, the creation of new banking subsidiaries, holding companies and innovative products and services. Gary is well known by all of the regulatory agencies that supervise community financial institutions and has an excellent working relationship with all of the agencies. Findley Reports Gary is also President and Editor of The Findley Reports Newsletter—an educational staple for boards and managements of financial institutions. Since 1967, The Findley Reports has been the foundation of the Findley Companies, providing valuable and accurate financial information to assist directors and managements in meeting the challenges and complexities of bank operations. The Findley Reports provides the banking industry with performance benchmarking through its annual designations of "Super Premier Performing," "Premier Performing," and "Commendable Performing" classifications. These designations have become highly regarded and recipients are recognized throughout the Western United States as financial institutions achieving exceptional performance. Through the work with the Findley Reports, Gary is also a director of the California Community Banking Network (“CCBN”) which provides educational programs and networking opportunities for community financial institution directors and officers in the Western United States. Gary has facilitated dozens of programs for CCBN and on an annual basis facilitates the CCBN Directors Roundtable and Top Banker Panel. The Findley Group Gary Findley is the Director of The Findley Group, a management consulting firm. The Findley Group is recognized as a consulting leader in strategic planning, business planning, business valuation and professional development. The Findley Group operates on various functioning levels: broad-based financial consulting, strategic and capital development, facilitation of director and management planning retreats, management coaching, strategic alliance consulting, and creation of business plans that meet the needs of small businesses, nonprofit organizations, community-based public entities, and financial institutions. The Findley Group's core competence is in establishing a strategic culture within organizations. One cannot rely on what has been done in the past to know how to survive and thrive in the future. Taking a new business approach to an existing way of doing business to achieve strategic objectives is a complex undertaking. The Findley Group understands the business of assessing every aspect of operations, every asset, every relationship, every program to determine capacity of an organization and through various methods provides clients with action plans for attaining successful performance results. The Findley Group does more than analyze an organization’s needs. The Findley Group works with clients to establish thoughtful, informed and researched plans through a process that is transformational and time-tested in meeting long-term strategic goals so that the organization thrives into the future. Over the years Gary, through The Findley Group, has facilitated hundreds of strategic planning meetings for boards and managements. All advised institutions are driven toward consistent Premier Performance. https://fisc.ventures/paul-soter daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/23f74ee5-6597-4690-b1e1-e2419ea7b7c1/Paul+Soter+2025+headshot+%281%29.jpg Paul Soter - Paul Soter Of Counsel, Money Service Business, Fintech and Banking Bio R. Paul Soter, Jr. is licensed to practice law in California. He earned his B.A. from the University of California in 1973 and his J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in 1977. He spent five years in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in Germany working in international law, claims, administrative law, and criminal law before joining California First Bank (now Union Bank) where he was the sole consumer credit attorney for several years. He was a member of the inter-institution task force that established the Star System shared ATM network, and was the primary counsel to the Bank’s Credit Card, Installment Lending, Electronic Banking, and Residential Loan departments. He was active in the California Bankers Association as a member of its State Government Relations Committee and as Chair of its Regulatory Compliance Committee. Soter practiced with two major San Francisco law firms and a boutique firm specializing in consumer financial services before founding the Law Offices of Paul Soter in 1997. Mr. Soter serves on the Board of Director of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of San Rafael, to which he is also General Counsel. He is General Counsel to the California Financial Services Providers. Mr. Soter is a frequent speaker on numerous retail banking and consumer financial service subjects to various industry groups and trade associations, including the California Bankers Association, the California Financial Service Providers, the Financial Service Centers of America (now INFiN), the Online Lenders Association, the Small Dollar Lending Association, the San Francisco Bar Association, and the Colorado Check Cashers Association. He has previously served on the California State Bar Association’s Consumer Financial Services Committee and Financial Institutions Committee. Education Bachelor of Arts, University of California, 1973Juris Doctor, Hasting College of Law, 1977 https://fisc.ventures/joshua-preston daily 0.75 2025-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/ed5e81b3-1380-4981-97bf-64048c44a7d0/joshua_preston-headshot.jpg Joshua Preston - Joshua Preston Adviser | Schedule a Consultation Bio Joshua Preston is the CEO of Gannett Trust Company in Wyoming and serves as an outside adviser to Fisc Ventures. He specializes in fintech product development, bank and fintech partnerships, licensing applications (bank, trust company, money transmitter, lending), business plan development, regulatory strategy and engagement, and financial services risk management. Joshua helps banks and fintechs navigate the often complex regulatory landscape. He has a particular focus on supporting innovative founders develop their roadmaps for products, services, licensing, and partnerships. His advisory business, Bowsprit Advisory, partners with The Fintech Consultant to bring this experience to TFC’s growing client base. Prior to founding Bowsprit, Joshua was chief operating officer and chief compliance officer at Unchained, a financial services company focused on bitcoin that offers solutions for self-custody, lending, and retirement. At Unchained, Joshua led teams responsible for all aspects of Unchained’s operations, security, risk management, compliance, and he developed and managed relationships with policymakers and financial institution partners. He also developed and implemented the U.S. regulatory licensing strategy and secured money-transmitter and lending licenses, and he worked together with the company’s co-founders to raise $60 million in a Series B investment. Joshua’s international career includes a decade regulating domestic and global financial institutions in the areas of prudential risk management (credit, market, and operational risk), compliance, information technology, and asset management and contributing to regulatory policy development for emerging technology; scaling a global fintech’s compliance risk management program; and leading an international marketing organization for a German semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Prior to Unchained, Joshua was compliance lead at Block (formerly Square) and a consultant in EY’s financial services practice. He spent ten years as an innovation officer and commissioned national bank examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. regulator of national banks and federal savings banks. Joshua was awarded an MBA as a graduate of the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and a B.S. Economics from the University of Idaho; he is also a Certified Fraud Examiner. https://fisc.ventures/philip-schaadt daily 0.75 2025-07-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/3314f9c7-65ab-48d9-8a3b-54a8e4925cc2/Philip-Edit2.jpg Philip Schaadt - Philip Schaadt Chief Technology Officer Bio Phil has 30+ years of experience in managing financial services products, operations, and technology, including advanced, large-scale information technology and information security (he holds a CISSP certification). Phil has worked with small teams and de novo startups as well as the world’s largest banks. Over his career, he has served as CTO/CISO for five financial technology-based startups. Phil also served as Senior Architect for Infrastructure and InfoSec for multiple clients, including at the time, the world’s largest payment processor. Phil was General Manager for Enterprise Technology Architecture, Standards and Consulting at Bank of America. He was Global Division VP of Consulting and Advanced Technology for a top tier global systems integrator as well as a senior product and operations executive at a large regional money center bank. Phil founded and ran as CTO a successful nationwide boutique IT, InfoSec, and systems integration firm (Haddon Hill Group). His firm achieved Premier status as an IBM Business partner and as AWS, and GCP Partner. Haddon Hill Group specializes in APIs, enterprise integration, cloud infrastructure and complex information security. He is currently the CTO of FISC Ventures and is the acting CTO of Financial Technology Holdings. Key Strengths Is as comfortable and successful working with highly technical or operations staff or regulators as he is advising boards of directors. Successful in advising or leading senior executive committees within small or global organizations. Starting from minimal requirements, successfully design and deliver not only complex technology-based products but also the supporting policy and procedure documentation and infrastructure necessary for compliance in highly regulated industries. Quick comprehension of client advanced technology infrastructures, complex organizations, detailed business processes and highly regulated detailed constraints and then explaining the necessary investments and changes need to accomplish the client’s stated business goals. Direct validation of vendor claims and vendor negotiations for complex software and services. Accomplishments Selected Accomplishments Proven success at delivering dozens of projects/products/implementations with budgets of from hundreds of thousands of dollars up to program oversight with budgets of over $100 million, often into the most complex environments. These projects have ranged from completely de novo implementations to technical project/program oversight of the merger of two of the largest banks. FTH — Acting Chief of Staff and Acting CTO Provided continuity across SMEs and proposed executives. Edited supervised, rationalized and correlated all of the multiple SME and consultant created market research, product positioning, product development, policies and procedures, financial models and rollout plans as well as negotiated and reviewed the proposals for all vendor contracts. Personally responsible for all bank-created information technology requirements, policies, standards, vendor evaluations, vendor selections, life proof of concepts, configurations and designs. Lead the multiple FDIC reviews of the completed multi-thousand-page application draft package. Sunstone Trust Company — Acting CISO/ CTO Beginning only with the initial business plan and regulatory application, was responsible for the evaluation, selection and implementation of the trust company’s SaaS technology implementation. Developed vendor selection criteria as well as specified all required IT architecture and vendor management policies using commercial off-the-shelf products from major recognized software vendors. The trust company’s SaaS applications were managed through advanced SaaS infrastructure products from network through endpoint protection which he selected and configured. He successfully led the trust company’s first full regulatory IT and vendor examination. Selected Relevant accomplishments from HHG For multiple clients, performed “API and Cloud Security &amp; Operation Health Checks,” especially Public Cloud hosting of both custom development and SaaS products, for regulated clients’ information security teams to develop, change or extend the enterprise security models and monitoring (CISSP certified). Implemented one of the earliest versions of API management products for one of the country’s largest telcos. Designed and delivered a working prototype of API developer portal with defined business processes as well as integration into the underlying API management product for one of the world’s largest software companies. Won the IBM software group’s WebSphere Cloud Innovation award for a full working infrastructure of multi-cloud, multiproduct API integrated secure cloud infrastructure. For the then world’s largest payment processor, was the chief architect to unify network, systems, security and business events with systems AI and integrations across dozens of the siloed tools. This created the world’s first fully integrated, real time consolidated services views (winning Gartner, Ovum and many other innovation awards). He was also an executive member of the Enterprise Architecture &amp; Information Security Committee as well as the InfoSec SME for the various FFIEC examinations for systemically important processors. For the country’s largest credit union, Phil served as consulting chief architect reporting to the CIO and CTO for their multiyear core and channels banking upgrade/migration. This included migration and enhancement of approximately 300 APIs as well as oversight for the CIO to the in-house, newly developed mobile banking platform. For one of the largest banks which had bought a standalone digital banking company, provided architectural and integration consulting specifying a standardized library of APIs, with governance processes to integrate the acquired digital banking platform into their existing mainframe-based core banking platform. Phil served as a member of the bank’s information security team which evaluated the security of the purchased APIs. Selected Relevant accomplishments from Bank of America Phil was hired by the Vice Chairman to realize a strategy driven enterprise architecture integration governance program linked to formal vendor management selection. Phil chaired the senior executive Enterprise Technology and Product Integrators committees. For the global wholesale bank, Phil provided architecture, design, systems engineering and & services to a large cross-functional team migrating all global cash management / treasury services to secure Internet delivery. https://fisc.ventures/john-z-barr daily 0.75 2025-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/92199e4f-488d-4858-8868-a95a13ec381f/jzbarr+headshot.jpg John Z. Barr - John Z. Barr Credit Administration Management | Schedule a Consultation Key Strengths 30+ years banking experience including as Chief Credit Officer for 4 commercial banks. Approvable by FDIC and state banking regulators Bank turnaround experience Loan portfolio reviews Oversee special asset divisions CRE, C&amp;I, Specialty Finance expert Business Banking Start-Up and Management Education and Certifications M.B.A Finance – Golden Gate University – San Francisco, CA B.A. – University of San Francisco, CA CCIM Designee RMA Member FDIC Security Clearance Expert Witness California Superior Court Receiver Thought Leadership Western Independent Bankers Association, San Francisco – Member and speaker, including as the moderator of a TDR conference in San Francisco. IMN, CCIM and other Panels – Hosted 10 panels in California on Special Assets and Regulatory Matters for a Troubled Institution, TDR’s, ALLL, Legal and other challenges faced by today’s community banks. Accomplishments Approved as Chief Credit Officer by the FDIC / California DFPI to assist a California bank with their regulatory order in stabilizing the bank’s performance, raising capital and completing the sale of the bank. Performed successful turnaround of the bank through improving credit quality, reducing watch list credits, managing loan portfolio concentrations and sizing to comply with regulatory capital and credit quality ratios. Performed extensive due diligence on acquisition targets in California, Washington, Arizona and Texas. Responsible for Credit Management as Interim Chief Credit Officer of the bank through the eventual turnaround and successful sale of the bank. Advise and assist financial institutions with M&A, Special Assets, portfolio loan reviews, Note Sales, Inspection and Valuation of Real Estate Assets, and Personnel. Consult in areas of Specialty Finance including MSBs, ABL and Factoring. Work closely with Board and Senior Executives for banks in detecting weaknesses in procedures, credit policies and personnel. Recommend specific actions for minimizing risks in existing portfolio. Conduct national real estate loan portfolio reviews for banks. Perform analysis along with site inspections for various portfolios located mostly in the western part of the U.S. Prepare comprehensive reports analyzing risks both in the assets as well as the underwriting and account management by specific officers of the particular banks. Recommend prompt corrective actions. FDIC Security Clearance. Investigate aspects of bank failure related to borrower review, the bank’s overall credit approval process, and the bank’s management of construction and lending process and procedures. Work closely with various departments of the FDIC and Inspector General’s office to deal with fraud and/or other irregularities in practices involving underwriting and suspicious acts; prepare SAR reporting recommendations. Superior Court of California Receiver. Serve as receiver for commercial and residential assets, partially completed and finished impaired real estate loans, ongoing businesses and special situations. Oversee response to corrective actions to secure properties with construction defects and safety and soundness concerns and defaulted business loans for various other companies. Focus on stabilizing properties as well as various businesses for sale and/or liquidation. Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). Receive prestigious designation for completion of courses, passing various examinations as well as a detailed portfolio review of real estate management and business expertise and experience. Awarded to approximately 5% of the total number of CRE professionals in the U.S. Expert Witness – Serve as expert witness for several cases involving good faith, confidentiality, contracts, documentation and general banking practices with respect to CRE, C&I and mortgage products. https://fisc.ventures/lou-alvarado daily 0.75 2025-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/31c7a898-4c82-43bd-afe4-3bac6872e2a2/Lou+Alvarado+preferred.JPG Lou Alvarado - Lou Alvarado Principal Bank Partnership Consultant | Schedule a Consultation Bio Louis Alvarado has 25 years of experience in bank/money service business (MSB) relationships. In the 1990’s he worked for a Tier 1 money transmitter helping the company grow to be the second largest money transfer company in the world. In 1997, he went to work for a bank which specialized in MSBs. From there, Lou has worked at several banks as a lender and banker to MSBs, short-term small dollar lenders, and fintech companies. He worked to establish the Banking Committee at the MSB Association (MBSA), a national trade organization representing money transmitters and digital channel financial institutions. As chair of the Banking Committee, he had the opportunity to interact with banks across the country by hosting conferences and speaker engagements. In 2021, he helped launch a self-service kiosk company serving the unbanked and underbanked as an active investor in a new venture. In addition, Lou has been helping MSBs and fintechs with their banking, compliance, and state licensing needs in a consulting role. Key Strengths Sourcing and structuring partnerships between banks and fintechs / money service businesses (“MSBs”) Successfully pursuing licenses for regulated businesses (lending and loan brokering, money transmission, debt collection, and other licenses and registrations) Thought Leadership He currently serves on the Advisory Board of a bank-in-organization and is working with the MSBA and Bankers College to complete an MSB Banking Certification program to train bankers to serve the industry. https://fisc.ventures/tom-j-barrett daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/e5ffdd79-5c29-4b6a-ba90-a3e80fe96a50/02202025+%282%29.jpg Tom J. Barrett - Thomas J. Barrett Fractional CFO and Principal | Schedule a Consultation Bio Tom has 30+ years of leadership across the financial services industry. He is skilled in all aspects of finance and accounting. Tom has deep experience as an Chief Financial Officer, Auditor, Controller, Chief Investment Officer, Compliance Officer, Director of Investor Relations, Human Resource Manager, Financial Operations Principal and Wealth Advisor for new and existing companies. Tom successfully managed accounting and finance operations for highly regulated financial companies, including a state-chartered trust company and fintech companies. He had deep involvement with the investment bankers and potential investors during the capital raising process. While there, Tom developed accounting processes and written procedures and successfully engaged with regulators during the exam. Tom was the lead executive in developing and managing the fund administration business. Tom attracted $4M and $10M in equity capital from two distinct investment groups for new townhome projects. He created fund documents, marketing materials and presentation decks for $50M real estate investment fund. Tom partnered with UBS Newport Beach’s highest producer with $650M AUM, to manage the investment portfolios. As Chief Financial Officer for the Family Office of George Argyros (Real Estate billionaire and Ambassador to Spain), he directly managed $1 billion in liquid assets. Tom oversaw a $150M portfolio invested in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and securities. He co-managed $70M fund of funds portfolio with 50 outside investors. Tom served with a nonprofit environmental start-up formed with $1 billion industry commitment after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. As the initial manager, he played a significant role in developing accounting, cost accounting, procurement, human resource, policies, and procedures. Tom as successfully served as project manager on many important initiatives for the new organizations. Education & Qualifications University of Virginia, B.S. in Accounting 1982 Securities Licenses: Series 7, 66, 28 and 79 CRD #2821759 CPA: Certified Public Accountant (inactive) 1993: #64953 (CA) CMA: Certified Management Accountant 1993: #11937 CFA: Chartered Financial Analyst 1999: #34119 CFP®: Certified Financial Planner 2007: #125739 Accomplishments Financial Services (7 years) Trust Company, CFO Sunstone Trust Company Bonds/Mutual Funds, CFO/FinOp Payden & Rygel Broker Dealer, CFO/FinOp Liberty Group Cryptocurrency, CFO Coin Genius Investments (5 years) Wealth Advisor UBS Hedge Fund, CFO Ascendiant Capital Distressed Debt, CFO TerraCotta Group Real Estate (8 years) Real Estate Development, CFO Boulder Ventures R.E. Owned & Managed, CIO Arnel & Affiliates Investments, CFO GMD Realty Investment Broker-Dealers Outside Fin-Op (8 years) 280 Securities, Mercury Securities, CapLink Securities, Diversified Securities, Echelon Capital, Gerwin Group, Keystone Capital, Polygon Capital, Mulligan Investments Family Offices (12 years) Argyros Family (Real Estate) Cymric Family Office (Multiple Families) Shattuck Family (Real Estate) https://fisc.ventures/brian-montes daily 0.75 2025-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/ce7b9a1f-075e-4b82-b5bd-247ffb526348/R5C29959.jpg Brian Montes - Brian Montes Regulatory Compliance Manager and Internal Audit | Contact Bio Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, September 19, 2024 – RADD LLC, is a boutique, compliance and internal audit consulting firm, focusing on Advisory as a Service®, has named Brian Montes as CEO, while Founder Radhika Lipton is stepping into an advisory role at the firm. Montes has been a consultant with RADD since 2019 and running operations and people management full-time for the last 18 months. “I fulfilled a lifelong dream of being an entrepreneur and starting up RADD in 2017 to help financial institutions with their compliance and internal audit needs,” said Lipton. “I am excited about the future of RADD knowing that it is in good hands with Brian Montes.” Lipton will move into an advisory capacity for RADD as she assumes the role of Chief Risk Officer at PCBB. “I look forward to building upon the solid foundation that was established under Radhika’s leadership. The company is well-positioned, and I look forward to continuing to operate it with a focus on a frictionless client experience coupled with ensuring RADD continues to be an employer of choice for our existing and future team members,” said Montes. Montes has achieved significant success across multiple areas, including sales, operations, leadership and strategic partnerships. He began his career in sales with a major global organization, quickly transitioning into managing complex partnerships across international markets. He later spearheaded the growth of a high-growth start-up, expanding its workforce and increasing revenues tenfold in just four years. Leveraging his experience, he launched a consulting firm focused on scaling businesses, helping them achieve sustainable growth. Montes also holds a Juris Doctorate, which broadens his ability to navigate highly regulated and complex industries. Montes brings all of his business experience and success to the RADD organization and has been contributing to the RADD team since 2019. RADD stands as the leading provider of Compliance and Internal Audit Services, thoughtfully designed to put their clients one step ahead of the competition. Through close collaboration with your dedicated compliance and audit departments, they offer a specialized solution that empowers their clients to seamlessly achieve and uphold rigorous regulatory mandates, ensuring not only adherence to regulations but also the cultivation of a robust operational framework. https://fisc.ventures/maryanne-morrow daily 0.75 2025-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/b667abb4-6cb2-4f35-bad3-d4568ba680d8/MMM+office.PNG Maryanne Morrow - Maryanne Morrow Managing Director, Capital Markets Bio Maryanne Morrow brings more than 30 years as a corporate veteran in the financial, marketing and advertising industries to her role as founder and principal of CapM Think Tank where she consults on a number of institutional finance projects. Maryanne and her team collaborate closely with our Regulatory Innovation team on a range of capital markets matters: Digital transformation including digital assets and blockchain innovation Risk Broker dealer formation and compliance Alternative trading system design, registration and compliance Custodian compliance Capital markets infrastructure innovation She is a frequent keynote speaker (see MaryanneMorrow.com) especially on digital transformation. She is a serial entrepreneur as well as a capital markets specialist, launching a family of mutual funds and architecting fee-based asset management platforms for banks, broker dealers and insurance firms. Maryanne previously served as Board Chair, CEO and Founder of 9th Gear that accelerated FX settlement (from 48 hours to < a minute) as well as CEO of SurgeXLR, a boutique accelerator she founded that focused on faster paths to monetization. She was also involved in two successful exits (to Standard & Poor’s and BNP Paribas Asset Management) and consulted on the custom content and advertising efforts of many financial firms while working at The Wall Street Journal. Maryanne is an active angel investor and an expert on distributed ledger technology, ICOs and cryptocurrency. Maryanne was educated at Cornell University (Material Science Engineering), LeMoyne (Finance) and Whittier Law School with continuous learning at Stanford University (Scaling Blockchain, Valuation Modeling, Angel Investing and part of the Blockchain Club). https://fisc.ventures/logo-creator-1 daily 0.75 2025-03-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/9d1d14bc-b717-4fd5-88d9-c8f2fd1f0214/larger+logo.jpg https://fisc.ventures/contact-us daily 0.75 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64b47766b576d2203885ffc7/b908ce82-45c9-4199-a13a-dadd379a10df/image+%2815%29.png