In Person: Banking and Finance Conference

Robbie Barnes

Robbie Barnes has been with PriorityOne Bank for 41 years, starting as a teller in 1983 while attending the University of Southern Mississippi. After earning his BSBA in Banking and Finance, he advanced to roles including loan officer, Branch Manager, Division President, Chief Credit Officer, and currently, President and Chief Executive Officer. Barnes graduated from Magee High School, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, the University of Southern Mississippi, and The School of Banking of the South at LSU. He is Vice Chairman of the Mississippi Bankers Association (MBA) and has also served the MBA as Treasurer, Legislative Committee Chairman, Lending Committee Chairman, and on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Barnes also serves on the Board of Directors for PriorityOne Bank, PriorityOne Capital Corporation, the Mississippi Bankers Association, the Simpson County Development District, Magee General Hospital, the Mississippi Public Funds Guaranty Pool Board, and the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA). Within the ICBA, he is the Consumer Financial Services Committee Chairman, a Federal Delegate Board Member, a TCM Bank Board Member, and an ICBA Consolidated Holdings Board Member. He is past President of the Simpson County Development Foundation, the Magee Chamber of Commerce, and the Magee Lions Club. He has chaired the Adopt-a-School program and founded the Youth Leadership program for Simpson County. Robbie and his wife, Melissa, have two daughters and seven grandchildren. They are active members of First Baptist Church of Magee, where he also serves on the Financial Review Committee.

Dudley Carter

DUDLEY CARTER is an Economist for Stifel, a fixed income broker/dealer serving institutional investors. Dudley writes daily commentary covering U.S. and foreign economic developments, as well as the U.S. and global financial markets. He also assists with the projection and publication of Vining Sparks' economic and interest rate forecasts and contributes to research articles for Vining Sparks. Dudley is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Tennessee and member of the Tennessee Society for Certified Public Accountants. Prior to joining Vining Sparks, Dudley was an audit manager at KPMG LLP, with a focus on the financial services sector. He graduated from the University of Mississippi with a Master's degree in Accounting and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting with a minor in Economics.

T. J. Fair

JEFF FAIR, CVA is the President of American Planning Corporation, a consulting firm that specializes in financial and strategic planning, regulatory rehabilitation and investment banking services for community banks. American Planning currently serves as an outsourced CFO for over 40 community banks ranging in size from $50 million to $4 billion in assets. Over the last 27 years, Jeff has assisted in the successful formation of 16 community banks, completed over 60 merger and acquisition projects and performed over 650 bank stock valuations. Jeff holds a Masters of Finance from Louisiana State University, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University and the Certified Valuation Analyst designation.

Gordon Fellows

Gordon Fellows was appointed by the Mississippi Bankers Association (MBA) Board of Directors to become the president and CEO of the MBA January 1, 2020. Fellows has been with the MBA since 2012, most recently serving as the Senior Vice President of Government Relations. Since 2012, Fellows has lead association lobbying efforts with elected and appointed state and federal officials, developed strategy to achieve legislative priorities for the MBA and its membership, and developed relationships with bankers and industry leaders across the state and country. Additionally, Fellows has had a number of other non-legislative responsibilities including the development of the MBA's strategic plan. He currently serves on the faculty of the Mississippi School of Banking at the University of Mississippi. Fellows In his new role as President and CEO, Fellows will lead the day-to-day efforts of the MBA in supporting the banking industry of Mississippi, helping prepare bankers for the ever-changing industry landscape, and ensuring that the MBA provides excellent member value. Fellows is originally from Tupelo, Mississippi and is a graduate of Tupelo High School. He earned a B.A. in international studies at the Croft Institute at the University of Mississippi in 2006. He spent a semester abroad at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, after serving as the Associated Student Body President during his senior year. Fellows was later inducted into the University of Mississippi Hall of Fame.

Bradley Floore

Bradley is a manager at HORNE where he specializes in serving clients in the financial institutions industry. He has extensive experience performing and managing external audits for both SEC and privately-held institutions. He also performs Sarbanes-Oxley and FDICIA compliance testing. Additionally, he provides consulting and advisory insights to clients regarding asset-liability management practices and the application of new accounting standards. Bradley is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and received the Fred T. Neely Gold Medal for performance on the 2016 CPA exam. He was also recognized by the Mississippi Young Bankers Association as an Orrin Swayze Scholar.

Nikki Henning

Nikki Henning is Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance for BankPlus, a community bank in the Southeast region with over $7.7 billion in total assets and eighty-three locations throughout Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Henning has been with BankPlus since 2020 and began her career following college with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation serving as a Commissioned Bank Examiner. She then worked for a private company as a Controller before joining State Bank & Trust Company. At State Bank & Trust Company, Henning worked in the audit, compliance, and risk areas with her final role as Chief Risk Officer ahead of the acquisition with BankPlus. She holds the CRCM (Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager), CERP (Certified Enterprise Risk Professional), and CCBIA (Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor) designations and is a graduate of Mississippi State University.

Ann Herring

Ann Herring has worked as a field bank examiner for the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance (DBCF) for over 13 years. She currently serves as a Senior Bank Examiner with a specialty in Community banks. Ann acts as Examiner in Charge or Asset Manager for most examinations. She also assists with on-the-job training for upcoming examiners.

Ann grew up in Winona, Mississippi. She attended the University of Mississippi, where she graduated with a Master's in Accounting and minor in Psychology. After college, she began work as a financial auditor for Ernst & Young, LLP in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2010, Ann started her career with the DBCF. She is a graduate of the School of Banking at Louisiana State University. She has received certifications from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors as a Certified Operations Examiner, Certified Credit Examiner, Certified Examiner-in-Charge, and Certified Senior Bank Examiner. Also, she has received a Certificate in Supervisory Management from the State of Mississippi and is currently pursuing a designation for Certified Public Manager.

Christopher Olsen

Christopher Olsen, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Olsen Palmer LLC, has been advising financial institutions for the entirety of his career including on more than 150 M&A transactions totaling more than $10 billion in total transaction value. He is the #1 ranked individual bank M&A advisor across the entire U.S. based on the number of such transactions advised upon over the past 5 years, according to S&P Global.

Mr. Olsen holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BBA from The George Washington University. He also completed additional professional studies at Columbia Law School on M&A Law and through the American Bankers Association's Institute of Banking. Mr. Olsen is a frequent speaker at industry events including with the Federal Reserve Board, Bank Director, S&P Global and a number of state banking associations.

Prior to co-founding Olsen Palmer, Mr. Olsen worked in the investment banking divisions of Morgan Stanley, Houlihan Lokey, and Hovde Financial. He began his career in community banking, first at Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) then at a 3-branch community bank.