There are many faces in the finance world.
There are the bank and credit union officials who hold on to money and try to make it grow; the wealth managers and financial planners who invest money and advise how best to spend it; and the loan officers who dole out money to help people and businesses buy homes, cars or equipment.
Each segment serves a different purpose, but together they control much of society’s wealth. They can be crucial to the success of a person, family or business.
VEGAS INC examined the finance industry in Southern Nevada and the people leading its varied segments: banks, credit unions, commercial insurance companies, wealth management companies, financial planning firms, mortgage loan companies and U.S. Small Business Administration lenders.
Meet some of the region’s top finance executives:
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Jade Anderson
Jade Anderson
Founder/CEO, Capstone Brokerage
Anderson, then a recent UNLV graduate, founded Capstone Brokerage in 1997, tapping into what he identified as a viable and lucrative market.
“I saw an opportunity in the insurance industry to develop a scalable recurring revenue business model with relatively low barriers to entry,” Anderson said.
Under Anderson’s leadership, Capstone emerged as one of the valley’s largest commercial insurance agencies. Capstone specializes in risk management, insurance and employee benefits. The company has been included on Inc. magazine’s list of America’s top 5,000 fastest-growing companies three times.
Anderson in 2008 was named “Small Business Person of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration and has represented Nevada in Washington.
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Larry Charlton
Larry Charlton
Senior vice president/Nevada regional executive, City National Bank
Charlton is a longtime Nevadan and veteran banker with almost 40 years of experience in financial services.
At City National Bank, he coordinates client services, business development and marketing in Nevada. He works closely with senior executives in other sectors of the bank, including wealth management, commercial banking, real estate and core banking.
Charlton joined City National in 2007 when it acquired Business Bank of Nevada. Before being promoted to Nevada regional executive, he was senior vice president and Nevada operations manager. He joined Business Bank of Nevada in 2000.
Kirk Clausen
Nevada regional president, Wells Fargo Bank
Clausen is responsible for the more than 120 Wells Fargo banks in Nevada.
He began his career in 1975 at Norwest Bank in Sioux City, Iowa, as a loan officer and retail bank manager. He later was named vice president of Norwest Bank Wisconsin and eventually executive vice president and Northern Nevada regional manager in 1999.
Norwest merged with Wells Fargo in 1998.
Clausen is a past chairman of the Nevada Bankers Association, Nevada Works and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. He graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City with a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
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David Dahan
David Dahan
CEO, Orgill/Singer
Dahan served as vice president and managing partner of Orgill/Singer & Associates for almost 12 years before becoming the insurance and investment company’s chief executive officer and owner with Eric Springall in 2001.
Dahan also is active in the development of Southern Nevada’s business community. He is past president of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and its board of directors.
Deborah Danielson
President/owner, Danielson Financial Group
Danielson, a Las Vegas native, has built a reputation for excellence among her clients and colleagues. An investment professional since 1981, she is a certified financial planner and certified fund specialist – the first woman in Nevada to achieve that designation.
She was named one of the Top 1,000 Financial Advisors nationwide by Barron’s magazine from 2009 through 2012 and was ranked No. 2 in Nevada in 2012. She was selected among the Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors by Registered Rep magazine in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and was named one of the Top 100 Women Financial Advisors by Barron’s from 2008 through 2012. Goldline Research named her company one of the five most dependable wealth management firms in the Southwest United States.
Danielson has a master’s of science degree in financial services and maintains securities registrations with LPL Financial.
Scott Emmer
Nevada president, Mutual of Omaha Bank
Emmer is responsible for leading the strategic growth and management of Mutual of Omaha Bank’s operations in Nevada. He oversees nine community banks in Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Laughlin and Bullhead City.
He has been a Nevada resident for 36 years and has 20 years of banking experience. Before joining Mutual of Omaha Bank, he served as senior vice president, commercial banking manager and senior lender at Northern Trust Bank in Las Vegas.
Emmer earned a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. He has been a member of the State Bar of Nevada since 1996. He is a graduate of Chaparral High in Las Vegas.
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Dallas Haun
Dallas Haun
President/CEO/chairman of the board, Nevada State Bank
Haun joined Nevada State Bank in 2007, bringing more than 35 years of commercial banking experience to the job.
Under his leadership, Nevada State Bank was awarded the insured deposits of Silver State Bank in 2008 and Great Basin Bank of Nevada in 2009. Nevada State Bank also acted as the payout agent in the 2009 resolution of Community Bank of Nevada.
Haun began his banking career in Michigan and spent 20 years with Harbor Bank of Long Beach in California, eventually serving as president and COO. Prior to taking the reins at Nevada State Bank, he managed commercial and private banking services for City National Bank in Beverly Hills and served on the bank’s executive committee.
Haun is a graduate of Michigan State University and received his postgraduate degree from the University of Washington’s Pacific Coast Banking School. He also completed the Executive Program at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.
Andrew Hunter
President/CEO, Silver State Schools Credit Union
Hunter came out of retirement in 2011 to try to turn around the privately insured Las Vegas credit union.
Silver State, which had $626.5 million in assets and 58,708 members as of September, is one of the largest credit unions in Nevada and has nine Las Vegas Valley locations.
Hunter has 30 years of experience working in financial institutions. He retired in 2009 as CEO of Patelco Credit Union in San Francisco, which during his tenure added 100,000 members and $800 million each in deposits and loans.
Hunter also previously worked at Schools First FCU in California and held executive positions at the Teachers Federal Credit Union and the Western Corporate Federal Credit Union (now the United Resources Federal Credit Union) in Orange County, Calif.
Chris Jones
Founder/president, Sparrow Wealth Management
Jones is the founder and president of Sparrow Wealth Management (formerly Keystone Financial Planning) and is a registered investment adviser in Nevada and Pennsylvania. He provides investment management and fee-only financial planning services.
Prior to starting his firm, Jones worked as a financial adviser for several wealth management firms. He also developed retirement planning software that many firms continue to use.
Jones is a certified financial planner and completed the CFP Professional Education Program at the College for Financial Planning in 2000. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1997 with a bachelor of science degree in economics and a minor in business management.
Dominic Massi
Founder/president, Massi Insurance Consulting
Massi is a lifelong Southern Nevada resident. He worked at a local insurance agency for more than seven years before leaving in 2008 to form Massi Insurance Services, a multi-line boutique commercial insurance agency.
Massi is a 2001 graduate of St. Mary’s College of Business in Moraga, Calif.
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Arvind Menon has been president and CEO of Meadows Bank since 2007. The bank was formed by local gaming executives and business leaders.
Arvind Menon
CEO, Meadows Bank
Menon was named president and CEO of Meadows Bank in 2007. The bank was formed by a group of local gaming industry executives and business leaders, including Brian Greenspun, publisher of VEGAS INC and the Las Vegas Sun.
Menon, who was born in India, previously served as president and CEO of Nevada First Bank and chief financial officer of Bank of America Nevada.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka in 1973 and his MBA from the University of Hawaii’s College of Business Administration in 1977. He also is a certified public accountant.
Paul Moffat
President, Arista Wealth Management
Since 1994, Moffet has worked with individuals, small businesses and corporations to teach them how to effectively manage their money.
Moffat worked as an account executive in a bank, then joined Merrill Lynch & Company before starting his own firm in 2004. He received his bachelor of science in managerial finance from UNLV.
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Kyle Nagy
Kyle Nagy
Founder/director, CommCap Advisors
Nagy started his commercial real estate career in Las Vegas in 1999 as a real estate analyst for GMAC Commercial Mortgage, an international commercial finance company. He has originated, underwritten and closed more than $390 million in loans and has provided alternate sources of capital to some of the region’s largest development companies.
Nagy is well-versed in the lending practices of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, Wall Street Conduits, Life Companies and local banks and was instrumental in the success of the Las Vegas Office of GMAC Commercial Mortgage, where he served as vice president before leaving in 2006 to form CommCap Advisors. He served as president for the Southern Nevada Chapter of NAIOP in 2012.
Nagy received his bachelor of science degree in business administration and economics from UNLV.
James Peters
CEO/managing principal, Integress Financial
As head of Integress Financial, Peters oversees portfolio management, financial advisory and business strategy services.
Prior to co-founding Integress with Dominic Rodrigues, Peters was a senior investment associate for the private banking and investment group of Merrill Lynch & Co., where he managed more than $100 million in client assets. He is a designated chartered financial analyst and certified financial planner.
Peters received a bachelor of science degree in financial services and managerial finance from UNLV.
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David Ross
David Ross
Branch manager/loan officer, W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital
Ross prides himself on developing client relationships and has an excellent track record of closed loans. He works with a variety of clients, including first-time home buyers and investors.
Ross was born and raised in Long Island, N.Y., and came to Las Vegas in 1996 to attend UNLV.
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George Smith
George Smith
Nevada president, Bank of America
Smith is president of Bank of America Nevada and is the company’s commercial and business banking executive for the Pacific Southwest region.
He previously worked for Mitsui Manufacturers Bank and Citicorp North America.
Smith graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 1985 with a master’s degree in finance.
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Lori Soren
Lori Soren
Region market president, U.S. Bank
Soren has been with U.S. Bank and its legacy banks since 1978. She oversees wholesale banking activities in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, as well as for the bank’s gaming division.
Over her career, she has held a variety of positions in wholesale banking, including treasury management consultant, team leader and division manager.
Soren graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She also is a certified treasury professional.
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Alicia Taylor
Alicia Taylor
Senior manager/broker, Mortgage Solutions
In her 20-year career in finance and lending, Taylor has served as an executive for several Fortune 500 companies.
She started her career in the credit card industry, then moved into finance. Most recently, she worked as an assistant vice president for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
Taylor returned to her hometown of Las Vegas in 2004 and founded Mortgage Solutions. Her team has done hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for thousands of clients.
She graduated from UNLV with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Wayne Tew
President/CEO, Clark County Credit Union
Tew has been CEO of Clark County Credit Union since 1986. He has held various positions at several financial institutions throughout his career, including vice president and controller for City-County Credit Union in Minneapolis, controller for Minnesota Online and auditor for Arthur Andersen in Minneapolis.
Tew also has served as chairman of the client group board for Summit Information Systems, which provides data processing software to credit unions worldwide. He also was a member of the advisory board for American Share Insurance, the largest private-deposit insurance company in the country.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University.
Al Whalen
President/CEO, The Whalen Group
Whalen is president and CEO of the Whalen Group investment advisory firm. He is a certified financial planner and is enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Whalen has lectured on taxation and investment strategies at UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada and for more than 26 years hosted a twice-weekly radio show, “Let’s Talk Money,” where listeners could get answers to questions about the economy and money-related issues.
The Consumers Research Council of America recognized Whalen six times as one of the “Nation’s Best Financial Planners.” He also is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, National Society of Public Accountants and Financial Planning Association.
More top finance executives in Southern Nevada:
Banking
Pete Atkinson, CEO, Bank of Las Vegas
Rita Brown, manager, Armed Forces Bank
Pam Callahan, division manager, Washington Federal Savings & Loan Association
Jeff Dummire, area director, Citibank National Association
Gene Galloway, CEO, Plaza Bank
Bruce Hendrick, CEO, Bank of Nevada
Kevin LeVezu, senior vice president, Bank of the West
Lucherg Mailloux, president, Nevada National Bank
William Martin, CEO, Service1st Bank of Nevada
Reed Radosevich, president/managing director, Northern Trust Bank
William Ralston, president/CEO, Toyota Financial Savings Bank
Tim Rogers, president, Town & Country Bank
Larry Seedig, president, USAA Savings Bank
Bob Strauss, branch manager, JPMorgan Chase Bank
John Sullivan, president/CEO, First Security Bank of Nevada
Kathy Yodice, branch manager, Beal Bank Nevada
James York, president, Valley Bank of Nevada
Credit unions
Brad Beal, president/CEO, One Nevada Credit Union
Eric Estes, CEO, Boulder Dam Credit Union
Roy Galyean, CEO, Las Vegas Up Employees Federal Credit Union
Dennis Huber, president/CEO, SCE Federal Credit Union
Jim Hunting, CEO, Sierra Pacific Federal Credit Union
Margie Lindsey, CEO, Stage Employees Federal Credit Union
Rick Schmidt, president/CEO, Weststar Credit Union
Carol Schumacher, president/CEO, Plus Credit Union
Insurance
Brian Cruden, CEO, Brown & Brown Insurance of Nevada
Allen Kaercher, president, Kaercher Campbell and Associates Insurance Brokerage
Eamon Springall, chief operating officer, Orgill/Singer
Eric Springall, president, Orgill/Singer
SBA lenders
Julie Craven, SBA officer, U.S. Bank
Evan Dickson, assistant vice president, Nevada State Development Corp.
Guy Gugino, business development officer, Wells Fargo Bank
Bob Hart, SBA Division vice president, Nevada State Bank
Matt McKibben, vice president/senior loan officer, Heritage Bank of Nevada
Calvin Regan, SBA Division manager, Meadows Bank
Ann Santiago, SBA officer, TMC Development
Rich Trang, vice president/loan officer, Mountain West Small Business Finance
Wealth management/Financial planning
Johanna Blake, managing director/market executive, US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management
James Corey, branch manager, Charles Schwab
Dawn Gordon, branch manager, Dawn Gordon Financial Advisors
Jessica Kartzinel, vice president of investments/wealth adviser, UBS
Michael Novick, director/wealth manager, Morgan Stanley
Greg Phelps, president/wealth manager, RedRock Wealth Management
Dominic Rodrigues, chief investment officer/founding principal, Integress Financial
Dawson White, president, Whitlock Financial