Meet our Bank Experts
Meet our team of bank experts and see how you can benefit from their expertise.
Trusted Experience
Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking has guided countless community and regional banks through complex mergers, acquisitions and other complicated transactions thanks to the knowledge and experience of our seasoned bank experts. Meet our team of bank experts and see how you can benefit from their expertise.
Curtis Carpenter, Managing Director
Curtis serves as Managing Director of Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking and Principal of Affiliated Bankers Capital. With more than 27 years in the financial services industry, Curtis Carpenter has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and financial management in the financial services sector.
Curtis has been involved in over seventy successful merger transactions from the multiple perspectives of buyer, seller and broker. Prior to joining Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking, Curtis helped direct mergers and acquisitions with a large regional bank holding company in their expansion into major growth markets across the Southwest. His additional experience includes strategic planning, financial forecasting, troubled debt restructuring, serving as CFO of another financial institution, and three years with KPMG in Dallas.
Curtis is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the country of both state and national organizations and has been a featured industry specialist for one of the world’s largest international accounting firms. He has been quoted as an industry expert in over 100 newspapers and other publications throughout the country including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CNBC.
Curtis is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas, holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Abilene Christian University, and is a graduate of the Management Training Program of one of the nation’s largest banks.
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Karen Kline, ASA, Director of Valuations
Karen Kline, an Accredited Senior Appraiser, is Director of Valuations and a principal of Affiliated Bankers Capital, LLC, an affiliated broker dealer who only brokers banks. With nearly 20 years in the financial services industry working with community banks, thrifts and financial service companies, Karen is responsible for developing and managing valuation services and strategic partnerships to meet client needs. Karen has over 13 years of experience in stock valuations, mergers and acquisitions, financial advisory and brokerage services. Karen has advised on over five hundred stock valuations, directed and performed due diligence, provided litigation support and IRS negotiations. Karen is an independent appraiser and does not own any bank stock securities.
Prior to joining Sheshunoff, Karen worked with several regional banks and was responsible for the southwest regional valuation practice of KPMG LLP in Texas.
Karen holds a 1986 bachelor’s degree in business administration in finance and real estate from the University of Texas at Austin, is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers and is a graduate of the credit-training program of NBC Bank, NA in San Antonio. Karen is a registered representative with FINRA, holding a Series 62, 63, 24 and 27.
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John Adams, Director of Mergers & Acquisitions
John Adams is a Director of M&A with Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking. John is focused on merger and acquisition advisory services and has also worked with many of the firm’s shareholder valuation clients. His background includes buy-side and sell-side engagements, merger negotiation and structuring, financial analysis and industry research. Prior to joining Sheshunoff eight years ago, John spent four years with Lehman Brothers working in the Financial Institutions Group in New York. John has over ten years of experience in financial services, valuing financial institutions and advising clients in the mergers & acquisitions process, involving both public and private institutions, as well as equity and debt underwriting.
John regularly presents economic and M&A updates at Sheshunoff conferences and has taught at the Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking. Early in his career, he worked for a year in Asia on a project to restructure the banking sector after the Asian currency crisis of 1997.
John obtained his Masters degree in mathematics from the University of North Texas and also holds a bachelor of business administration degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. John is a registered representative with FINRA and holds the Series 62 and 63 licenses.
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John Blaylock, Associate Director
John Blaylock is an Associate Director with Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking. With over 20 years of experience working with financial institutions as a commercial banker and as an advisor to banks and thrifts, John is primarily involved in the areas of merger and acquisition advisory services, capital advisory and valuation services for financial institutions. John has performed more than one hundred valuations, participated in dozens of mergers and acquisitions on both the sell-side and buy-side, provided litigation support and performed numerous shareholder value analyses.
John has over 13 years of experience in commercial banks, most recently in credit policy formulation and management at a $200+ million commercial bank. He has experience in strategic planning and budgeting, commercial lending, equipment leasing, trade finance, corporate finance and investments. John holds a bachelor of business administration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and completed the necessary course work for the MBA program with a double concentration in Finance and Accounting. John is a registered representative with FINRA.
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Rick Elton, CFA, Senior Associate
Rick Elton is a Senior Associate with Sheshunoff & Co. Investment Banking, working primarily in the areas of valuation and capital advisory services for financial institutions nationwide, and merger and acquisition advisory services. Rick has nearly 20 years of business experience, including a strong background in conducting financial statement analysis, stock valuations and performance trend analysis and also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification. Rick has worked on hundreds of valuations and dozens of mergers and acquisitions.
Rick holds a bachelor of business administration in finance and MBA in finance from the University of Toledo. Rick is a registered representative with FINRA and holds the Series 62 and 63 license.
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