Mr. Gordon has over 30 years of commercial banking experience, specializing in fundamental and quantitative analysis of highly complex capital market investments and credit transactions involving commercial and industrial, real estate and financial institutions, including government sponsored enterprises.  He has diversified skills in investment risk analysis, financial analysis, corporate finance, enterprise valuation, investment banking analysis, and risk management.  Mr. Gordon holds the prestigious Chartered Financial Analysis (CFA) designation that is recognized globally for commitment to the highest levels of professionalism in the investing industry and, as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), carries the most widely identified business valuation credential from the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) that is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCAA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). 

Mr. Gordon’s educational background includes an M.S. in management and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in economics and business administration from Tougaloo College.

Mr. Southard had a 12-year commercial banking career at some of the nation’s largest financial institutions.  Mr. Southard served as Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Lending for Bank of America and was a Commercial Real Estate Lending Officer for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.   After his corporate banking career, Mr. Southard had a 20-year career as owner of an SBA (8a) financial services firm specializing in public sector loan fund management and economic development consulting.  During this same timeframe, Mr. Southard founded and served as Executive Director of a non-profit residential diversion program for post adjudicated adolescent boys emphasizing therapeutic intervention.  Mr. Southard has extensive experience in providing financial analysis and advisory services to startups, small and middle market companies, and has assisted more than a hundred companies in their efforts to raise both equity and debt capital.   

Mr. Southard is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) through the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA) and obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama and his Master of Arts degree in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.