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Speakers Network
Money Talks. We Translate.
FTN Financial has a wide array of experts available through our Speakers Network. It's our way of sharing the latest financial insight with others. Whether it is innovative strategies for managing interest-rate change or new ways to approach balance-sheet management, our speakers have the knowledge, experience and savvy to share at events around the globe. Below is a listing of our most requested speakers.
Christopher Low
Chief Economist
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FTN Financial
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Chris has twenty-five years experience tracking US and global economies, financial markets, central banks and fiscal policy, as well as six years experience as a money manager, giving him a unique ability to distill economic events into information useful to investors. He writes daily economic and market updates, weekly economic commentaries and regular economic forecasts. He is a frequent and popular speaker at national conferences and forums. He is a member of SIFMA’s Economic Committee and the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
Chris has been quoted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications around the world. He is a regular on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and Fox Business Channel and is often heard on the BBC World Service radio and American Public Media’s Marketplace.
Chris is a graduate of New York University.
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Jim Vogel, CFA
Executive Vice President
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FTN Financial Capital Markets
As an executive vice presidet, Jim Vogel manages interest rate, credit, and municipal market strategies for FTN Financial Capital Markets. He works with investors on total return portfolio management and also closely follows GSE developments. A 32-year FTN Financial employee with more than 25 years of capital market experience, Jim did several tours on the trading desk. In 1992, he began writing about the agency market, and today has expanded the work into a comprehensive look at the fixed income markets. He has written extensively on the GSE controversy since it began in 2000, and continues to report its impact on investors. His views are widely quoted in the financial press.
Jim holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
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Walter “Walt” Schmidt, CFA
Senior Vice President & Manager
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Mortgage Strategies Group
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Walt is a 20-year, fixed-income veteran and is based in the Chicago office. He focuses on total rate of return structured product portfolio strategies for money managers, insurance companies, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, hedge funds, municipalities, and large depositories on a global scale. Walt is responsible for the management of the Mortgage Strategies group and the coordination of the Structured Product business within the firm. He is a frequent public speaker and discussion facilitator in both industry association and client-sponsored settings. He has also been widely quoted in the print media and has appeared in the television media to discuss market trends.
Walt holds an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago with concentrations in finance and accounting, an M.A. from the University of Chicago in social science/international relations and a B.A. (with Honor) from Michigan State University in social science/international relations.
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Steve Twersky, CPA
Senior Vice President
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Portfolio Strategies Group
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Steve is responsible for managing the portfolio strategies effort in the Capital Markets division of FTN Financial with respect to the depository customer base. His efforts center around assisting customers with managing their investment portfolio and understanding the implications of portfolio decisions on the institution's overall performance and risk profile. Steve also helps customers understand the impact of current and proposed regulatory, accounting and tax issues, as these often play an important role in the management of the portfolio.
Steve is a frequent public speaker at banking conferences across the county and regularly authors reports on specific investment structures and strategies. He joined FTN Financial in 1984 after working at a national public accounting firm where he specialized in auditing financial institutions.
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Abigail Jackson
Vice President, Municipal Credit Strategist
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Interest Rate Strategies Group
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Abigail Jackson manages municipal credit strategies for FTN Financial Capital Markets. She follows general credit trends and sector-specific developments to help customers identify and manage credit risk. Abigail uses her extensive database of municipal credit information to identify relative value opportunities through research publications and tailored investment strategies. Abby is a graduate of Emory University.
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Gray Bowles
Vice President
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Portfolio Strategies Group
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Gray concentrates on investment strategies for depository institutions and other institutional customers. His specific area of expertise lies in evaluating fixed income portfolios and designing investment strategies to help clients maximize earnings, minimize risk, and manage cash flow. He also specializes in leverage transactions, as well as total return analysis.
Gray has a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Memphis.
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Katherine Russell
Senior Vice President
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Portfolio Strategies Group
Katherine Russell is a senior vice president in FTN Financial’s Portfolio Strategies Group. She assists a wide range of investors in the analysis of current investment portfolios as well as in the design and implementation of strategies that address return, cash flow and risk. She is also involved in the evaluation of various product sectors including agency securities, mortgage-backed structures, and municipal bonds. In addition to portfolio and individual security analysis, she analyzes the effect of multiple security swaps on overall portfolio performance.
Katherine earned her B.B.A. degree with majors in business administration and economics and also her M.B.A. from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
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Jerry Hubbard
President
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FTN Financial Capital Assets Corporation
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Jerry Hubbard serves as President of FTN Financial Capital Assets Corporation, the loan and servicing asset management and advisory services group of FTN Financial. As President of FTN Capital Assets, Jerry oversees the full spectrum of services offered by the group’s professional staff of CPA’s, financial analysts, loan portfolio advisors and operations specialists. Jerry’s primary expertise includes loan portfolio risk management, whole bank acquisitions, balance sheet strategies, asset management workout plans, and all facets of loan operations. Jerry has served on many industry-related committees and boards, and has authored numerous articles on a variety of loan portfolio management topics. As the former sole owner of a thrift institution that was the largest servicer of mortgage loans in the nation for its asset category, he understands first-hand the complexity of issues required to successfully manage the loan portfolio. Jerry is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Peter J. Taglia, CPA, CMB
Vice President Financial Management
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FTN Financial Capital Assets Corporation
Pete Taglia is vice president of FTN Financial Capital Assets Corporation, concentrating on loan sale and securitization strategies, asset-backed structuring and portfolio analysis. His duties include client support for mortgage banking issues with an emphasis on hedging and risk management. He is a faculty Fellow for the MBA and received that organization's Master Faculty Award in 1998. He has also served as a senior faculty member for the Freddie Mac School of Mortgage Finance. In addition, Pete served as a member of the Illinois Residential Mortgage Board (State of Illinois - Office of Commissioner of Residential Finance); served on Fannie Mae’s Midwest Marketing Advisory Council, Chaired Alltel’s Secondary Functional Advisory Committee; was a member of Freddie Mac’s Midanet Advisory Board; and was the mortgage banking representative on MCAP (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago). Pete has authored several articles for Secondary Marketing Executive, Futures Magazine, Futures Industry, and the Chicago Board of Trade.
Pete graduated from the University of Illinois where he earned a BS in Accounting. He has participated in the London Business School's MBA Graduate Shadowing Program and is also a 1994 graduate of the MBA School of Mortgage Banking, for which he achieved his CMB designation in 1995.
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Al Farlow, CFA
Senior Vice President and Manager
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ALM Advisors Group
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Al has been with First Tennessee Bank since 1991 and has worked for FTN Financial
since 1997. His responsibilities at FTN Financial include management of the
Asset/Liability Management (ALM) Advisors Group, providing analytical and accounting
support (FAS 133) to the derivatives desk, and assisting clients with balance sheet
strategies.
Prior to transferring to FTN Financial, Al worked in First Tennessee Bank’s Risk
Management division where he was responsible for presenting the bank's interest rate
risk position to the Asset/Liability Planning Committee.
Al graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science in finance, earned his
M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University, and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst
Institute.
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