Managing Director of Skyway Capital Markets in Tampa, Florida. Specializing in credit union/bank acquisitions and credit union issuance of secondary capital. Before joining Skyway, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Achieva Credit Union (“Achieva”) in Dunedin, Florida, the first credit union to acquire a community bank via merger and the first credit union to acquire a second community bank. President of Achieva Merger Services (“AMS”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Achieva formed in June 2017. AMS’s business model was to provide merger consulting services to credit unions and community banks interested in mergers with each other. Prior to joining Achieva, thirty-seven years in the banking industry as a C-suite executive, primarily as CFO, with publicly traded banks, privately held banks, and a mutual savings bank. During this time involved in multiple mergers and acquisitions on both the buy and sell-side, including the first Florida-based financial institution to acquire out-of-state financial institutions.

Richard Garabedian has more than 35 years’ experience representing credit unions, banks and savings institutions on a nationwide basis on a variety of corporate and regulatory matters as a member of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP financial institutions practice group. He has served as a counsel at the Federal Reserve Board and as an adjunct professor of Banking Law at Rutgers University School of Law.  Richard’s practice has focused on advising boards and management on risk management including cyber insurance, FOM expansions, cross-industry mergers including credit union acquisitions of banks, new products and services, regulatory compliance, de novo bank and credit union formations, enforcement matters, corporate governance and capital offerings. 

Alec Hollis joined ALM First Financial Advisors in 2012. As a Managing Director, Alec is responsible for product management, including planning and execution of ALM First products and services, particularly related to asset/liability management, hedging, and asset management strategy. He also assists in client service, in implementing client balance strategy and hedging programs.

Alec has shared his areas of expertise on various topics at ALM First educational events, along with ongoing research for use in ALM First’s industry commentary. He has also written numerous articles on these topics that have been published in publications such as CU Business and Western Banker Directors Digest.

Alec holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame, as well as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.