Jim grew up in Kansas and Missouri. His father was a funeral director and his mother a college Latin professor and librarian. He majored in Business Administration at Emporia State University with some graduate-level studies at the University of Kansas and The University of Oklahoma; and earned the professional accreditation of certified consumer credit executive [C.C.C.E.].
He began his banking career with a Transamerica Corporation consumer finance subsidiary company in Kansas City. At the time, he was the youngest manager in the history of the company. Jim successfully managed branches in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, becoming an accomplished workout specialist and a member of the evaluation team on sales and acquisitions of loan portfolios. After six years with Transamerica, Jim managed one of the original Morris Plan Savings Banks in Oklahoma. Two years later, Jim was appointed the Regional Vice President for Kansas with Security Benefit Life’s Banking Services Agency in St. Louis, MO. After three years, Jim accepted a role as a senior lender and the insurance office manager for a state-chartered community bank in rural Kansas. Ultimately, Jim became the majority stockholder of that bank, holding the positions of Chairman, President/CEO and Trust Officer. Jim was a very active local community banker for 12 years, taking up the fight to protect the “franchise” of community banking in Kansas and supporting positions in favor of community banks on legislation with elected officials; and testifying at the Capitol on occasion. During this time, Jim became a recognized regional SBA lender and certified lender for the Farmers Home Administration Business and Industry Program and served on the original State Board of the Small Business Development Centers in Kansas; served many times as a session leader at the annual Kansas Bankers Association Leadership program; and was a leader at the local and state level of the Bank Administration Institute.
After selling his interest in the bank, he moved to Florida where he and his wife owned a condo. Unexpectedly, an opportunity arose for Jim to lead a special projects task force relating to AS400 conversion problems with the Kirchman Corporation in Orlando. Jim was named a Senior Vice President of Kirchman as a product manager for small banks (under 1 billion in assets) and appointed to the Executive Committee of the company.
Among his many speaking engagements, in 1990, Jim gave the keynote address at the annual meeting of the National Bankers Association. He predicted that the Fed would be moving rapidly towards a paperless banking environment to include the electronic distribution of government payments, such as welfare payments, by the year 2000.
For the past 21 years, Jim has been a consultant at the CEO level to hundreds of community banks specializing in Operation Audits at the transaction level focusing on expense reduction, cost recovery analysis and new income generation. Jim also advises senior management and bank board of directors regarding Strategic Planning and Capital Deployment issues. Over the years, Jim has negotiated hundreds of contracts for clients and now has a separate process focusing on Contract Negotiation with emphasis on Contract and Vendor Management.
The principals of Jim’s consulting practice have completed consulting projects with more than 700 hundred financial institutions in the USA, the Caribbean and South America. Clients have varied from under $200 Million in Asset Size to the multi-billions; from less than 20 employees to over 4,000 employees; from zero branches to over 200 branches. The geographic distribution of projects undertaken range from banks in very remote rural settings to those in urban and inner city locations; from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Levelland, TX.
CAROLE A. MYERS
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO)
Carole Myers is a native of Washington KS, a farming community located in North-Central rural Kansas. Her father was the City Engineer and her mother the Administrative Assistant at the local hospital. She attended Emporia State University in Emporia KS with a Major in Business Administration and a Minor in Public Relations.
In addition to being a wife, homemaker and mother of two daughters, Carole distinguished herself early in her working career as a collection supervisor in charge of seven states for the JC Penney Regional Credit Office in Kansas City. As her family moved, Carole was an Assistant County Treasurer in Mankato County KS. Later in Emporia, Carole was in charge of collections for the Credit Bureau of East Central Kansas. For a number of years after that, she worked with her husband in a community bank in the same city. She was in charge of Media Relations, Board Reporting, Policy Review and Budget Administration.
After moving to Florida in the 1980’s, she supervised administration functions at several locations for a well known Central Florida Funeral Home and Cemetery. She then joined MCoUSA in 1998 as the Chief Operating Officer. Carole has assisted MCoUSA in many ways including internal processes and controls, working onsite with projects as well as leading the survey and verification department functions of the company.
SHAWN D. BRIEL
PRINCIPAL - CONSULTANT ANALYST
Shawn Briel has over 15 years in the Quality Control/Assessment field. He earned his ISO 17025 certification in Auditing and has inspected over 400 engineering firms for industry quality assurance and to validate strict compliance with each firm's Quality Systems Manual. He has given many recommendations to help the clients programs reach their maximum potential. He believes consensus building, awareness and training brings positive results for all that embrace it.
Shawn brings his auditing, analysis and consultive experience to Community Banks as a principal of MCoUSA. Shawn travels extensively as a project consultant analyst for MCoUSA's Community Bank clients in the United States. He provides support in all phases of the MCoUSA process including coordination of the Implementation Phase.
Shawn, his wife and their two children live in the Orlando, Florida area. His leisure time is spent with family and friends and participating in outdoor activities.
DR. RICARDO A. LORA
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT – LATIN AMERICA
RLora@mcousa.com