Thursday, April 23

Blake Earley has served as a member of the American Bankers Association’s congressional relations team since January 2022. Prior to joining ABA, Blake spent eight years working for Regions Bank, a regional bank based in the southeastern U.S. While at Regions, Blake worked in the Legal Department and in BSA/AML Operations at the company’s Birmingham, Ala., headquarters before moving to Washington, D.C., to join the Regions Government Affairs team.

Thomas (Tom) Wiley founded T-Wiley Advisors, LLC, after retiring from a 35-year career in bank supervision with the FDIC, and is engaged in industry training and consulting. Tom’s background includes extensive exposure at all levels of bank supervision, including field operations, regional offices, and Washington DC headquarters, covering community banks as well as large, regional institutions. In the field, Tom examined banks and trained other examiners on-the-job, and throughout his career was involved in all forms of training. Tom instructed three FDIC ‘core’ training schools for assistant bank examiners, including Financial Institution Analysis School, Asset-Liability Management School, and Examination Management (Capstone) School. Tom delivered many presentations and training at external Director’s Colleges and other outreach for industry audiences addressing such topics as corporate governance, strategic planning, policy formation, and various regulations. Tom’s expertise was also counted on for internal training on topics such as enforcement actions, liquidity, interest rate risk, and financial institution monitoring.

Tom was recognized frequently with awards over the course of his career for superior work, including as the 2015 Washington Office FDIC Employee of the Year. Tom graduated with honors from the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colorado, and Drury University, Springfield, Missouri, and was honored to be selected and complete the Executive Potential Program administered by the Leadership Development Academy of the USDA Graduate School. Tom holds the ABA’s Certified Enterprise Risk Professional and the ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner designations.

Trent Fleming serves as a trusted adviser to financial institutions on matters of technology, strategy, and management. He serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, The Advanced Banking School at Penn St, and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Florida. He regularly contributes articles to industry publications and publishes the very popular banking newsletter “Trent's Comments.” Trent holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Christian Brothers University.

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Shaun Harms is currently the Partner for FORVIS in the Financial Services Division specializing in Consumer Compliance and BSA. He is responsible for consulting and audit services for community and regional banks and has over 17 years of consulting experience with financial institutions.

Prior to joining FORVIS, he was the Founder and Executive Director of Bankers Assurance, LLC that was one of the largest compliance consulting companies in Arkansas representing over 80 banks in Arkansas and the surrounding states. He has extensive knowledge in consumer compliance and BSA. He has performed numerous audits in both consumer compliance and BSA. In addition, Shaun has conducted numerous training sessions for financial institutions.

Shaun graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He also graduated from Arkansas State University in 2003 with a master’s degree in business administration, and the Barret School of Banking in 2007 (summa cum laude).

In addition, Shaun completed the ABA National Compliance School in 2006, and holds the ICB Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) designation. He was selected as one of Arkansas Business 40 under 40 for 2014.

Rich Perez is Vice President of Innovation and Digital Strategy at the Texas Bankers Association, where he leads the Innovation Magnet program serving over 700 community banks across Texas and surrounding states. He specializes in digital assets strategy for community banking, including stablecoin consortiums and tokenized deposit models, and works directly with bank boards and executives to turn emerging technology into practical business decisions. Rich is a frequent conference speaker and panelist on AI, cybersecurity, fintech, and digital assets, and co-leads the Foundations in Fintech program at Texas State University's McCoy College of Business.

Robert Smith’s practice at Friday Eldredge Clark is particularly focused on the banking industry, where he advises clients on regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, lending, and capital raising. He also works with companies and their leadership on corporate governance, securities offerings, and complex financing transactions.

A certified public accountant (inactive), Robert brings a strong financial perspective to his legal work. He is widely recognized for his work in banking, corporate, and securities law, including multiple “Lawyer of the Year” honors in Banking and Finance Law and Securities/Capital Markets Law. He is also a frequent author on issues affecting the banking industry, contributing to publications such as Arkansas Business and The Arkansas Banker.

Shawn Main serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Architect at Vantage Bank, where he leads the Shared Services division. In this role, Shawn ensures strategic alignment between business and technology to enhance customer experiences and drive operational efficiency. His team is responsible for developing innovative applications and solutions, leveraging data analytics, overseeing member partnerships, and conducting ongoing outreach to customers—providing technical guidance, sharing insights on banking solutions, and identifying opportunities to enhance service offerings.

Shawn has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 18 years at Vantage Bank. Throughout his tenure at Vantage Bank, he has held several key leadership positions, each enhancing his expertise in banking operations, technology integration, and risk management. Before stepping into his current role, he served as Bank Cashier & Deposit Operations Manager, overseeing bank operations, compliance, and customer service channels. As Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Shawn played a critical role in shaping the bank’s long-term IT strategy, optimizing infrastructure, and driving the adoption of modern technology solutions to support business growth.

Shawn is a graduate of The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems, graduating Magna Cum Laude. His strong background in technology and financial services, combined with his leadership in aligning IT resources with business objectives, makes him a key driver of Vantage Bank’s continued innovation and customer-centric approach.

A dedicated leader with a passion for problem-solving and forward thinking, Shawn is committed to ensuring that Vantage Bank remains at the forefront of digital banking solutions while maintaining the personal, relationship-driven service that defines the institution.

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Friday, April 24

Susannah Marshall was appointed to be the 22nd Commissioner of the Arkansas State Bank Department on October 1, 2020. In August 2023, Governor Sarah Sanders appointed Ms. Marshall to also serve as the 19th Arkansas Securities Commissioner.

Ms. Marshall has served the State of Arkansas since 1995. She began her Bank Department career as a Commercial Bank Examiner in 1995 and has served many roles within the agency. Ms. Marshall was appointed Deputy Bank Commissioner in 2007 and served in that role until her appointment to Bank Commissioner.

As Bank Commissioner, Ms. Marshall is responsible for the regulation, supervision and examination of Arkansas state-chartered banks, bank holding companies, a trust company and Arkansas Capital Corporation. As of September 30, 2025, the agency supervised 70 state-chartered commercial banks with total assets over $169 billion.

As Securities Commissioner, Ms. Marshall is responsible for oversight of the securities industry, non-depository mortgage lending industry, money services industry, state-chartered credit union industry, and state-chartered savings and loan industry in Arkansas. The Securities Commissioner manages agency operations to ensure the Department carries out its core mission of protecting the well-being of Arkansas citizens through effective investor education and the administration and enforcement of the various statutory Acts under its jurisdiction.

Commissioner Marshall is a trustee on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System, a member of the State Board of Finance, and a member of the Arkansas Financial Education Commission.

In May 2025, Ms. Marshall was elected Treasurer to the Board of Directors for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and serves on various committees within the organization.

Ms. Marshall also serves on the Board of Trustees of the SW Graduate School of Banking (SWGSB) at SMU Cox in Dallas, Texas and as a board member for Economics Arkansas.

Ms. Marshall earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1994 and is a 2002 graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking. During her tenure with the Bank Department, Ms. Marshall obtained the designations of Commissioned Senior Examiner and Certified Examination Manager.

Etay Maor is VP Threat Intelligence at Cato Networks, founding member of Cato CTRL (Cyber Threats Research Lab), and an industry recognized cyber security researcher and keynote speaker.

Previously, Etay was the Chief Security Officer for IntSights where he led strategic cybersecurity research and security services. Before that Etay held numerous leadership and research positions as an Executive Security Advisor at IBM where he created and led breach response training and security research and as Head of RSA Security’s Cyber Threats Research Labs where he managed malware research and intelligence teams and was part of cutting edge security research and operations.

Etay is an adjunct professor at Boston College and a guest lecturer at MIT and holds a BA in Computer Science and a MA in Counter Terrorism and Cyber Terrorism. Etay is a frequent featured speaker at major industry conferences and is part of RSA Conference and QuBits conference committees. He is often tapped by major news outlets for his astute commentary on and insights into the cybersecurity news of the day.

Travis Hill is the 23rd Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors, currently serving a five-year term that began on January 2, 2026. Mr. Hill had previously served as FDIC’s Acting Chairman starting on January 20, 2025, and served as Vice Chairman beginning on January 5, 2023.

Prior to his terms on the Board of Directors, he was Deputy to the Chairman for Policy from 2018 to 2022 and, before that, served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman. In these roles, he oversaw and coordinated regulatory and policy initiatives at the agency and advised the Chairman on regulatory and policy matters.

Prior to joining the FDIC, Mr. Hill served as Senior Counsel at the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he worked from 2013 to 2018. In this role, he participated extensively in the drafting and negotiating of numerous bipartisan bills. Before working at the Senate, Mr. Hill worked as a policy analyst at Regions Financial Corporation from 2011 to 2013.

Mr. Hill received a Bachelor of Science from Duke University, where he studied economics and political science, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.

Chris has more than 30 years’ experience tracking US and global economies, financial markets, central banks, and fiscal policy, as well as six years’ experience as a money manager, giving him a unique ability to distill economic events into information useful to investors.

Chris writes daily economic and market updates, weekly economic commentaries, and regular economic forecasts. He is a frequent and popular speaker at national conferences and forums. He is a member of SIFMA’s Economic Committee and the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where he has served as Chairman.

Chris has been quoted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications around the world. He is a regular on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and Fox Business Channel and on BBC World Service radio and American Public Media’s “Marketplace.” Chris has been recognized multiple times by Bloomberg as the most accurate forecaster of Treasury note yields.

Chris is a graduate of New York University.

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