2025 Financial Institutions Conference Bundle

Dr. Chris Kuehl is a Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. He provides forecasts and strategic guidance for a wide variety of corporate clients around the world. He is the chief economist for several national and international organizations, Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, National Association of Credit Management, Finance, Credit and International Business and the Business Information Industry Association. He is also the economic analyst for several state accounting societies – Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.

Prior to starting Armada in 1999 he was a professor of economics and finance for 15 years – teaching in the US, Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Singapore and Taiwan. He holds advanced degrees in economics, Soviet studies and East Asian studies.

Chris is the author of Business Intelligence Briefs and Executive Intelligence Briefs - both publications from Armada. He is also responsible for the Credit Manager's Index from NACM and Fabrinomics from the FMA.

David provides more than 25 years of experience in information technology. His specialties include IT compliance/audit, security, risk analysis, disaster recovery, network design, installation, and implementation. David's accomplishments include IT assessments/audits for Gramm Leach Bliley, Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC), National Credit Union Association (NCUA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA/HiTECH), National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), SOC 1 (SSAE 16), SOC 2, and the Bank Secrecy Act.

Additionally, David serves as an IT subject matter expert in the AICPA SOC Peer Review Program. He teaches the AICPA Advanced IT Audit School and is a member of the AICPA SOC Task Force. He also serves as the current editor of the ISACA Information Systems Control Journal. David has served on the faculty of Troy University as an Adjunct Professor, a speaker and instructor for groups and associations such as the AICPA IT Executive Committee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee Society of CPA's. David designed and built one of the first internet service providers in Alabama providing deep experience in cyber security. David is the Director of Information Technology Audit and Assurance for Carr, Riggs, & Ingram a super-regional CPA firm ranked number 21 out of over 45,000 CPA firms in America.

Alain Tourikian joined ALM First Financial Advisors in 2019. As a director for the firm, Alain serves as the go-to resource and relationship manager for his clients helping them tap into the power of a partnership with ALM First to maximize their financial performance. With a deep knowledge of balance sheet risk analytics, Alain works closely with clients to provide new ideas, insights and advice on topics ranging from investment portfolio management, funding strategies, hedging, loan pricing, loan transactions, and more. He also collaborates internally with the entire ALM First team to deliver analytics and timely reporting to assist clients from strategy development through implementation and post-execution analysis.

Alain has shared his expertise and experience at various conferences and with multiple industry organizations including FMS Chapters, West Virginia School of Banking and as an adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University teaching finance. Alain has an extensive Commercial Banking background in Finance/Treasury with solid problem-solving skills that focus on maximizing stakeholder value, customer retention/growth and product innovation. Alain also possesses an in-depth knowledge of portfolio management, fixed income markets, derivative products, wholesale and retail funding sources, and risk management processes. He is known as an innovator in the financial institution industry, having designed and pioneered a number of on- and off-balance sheet strategies to protect and enhance net interest margins.

Alain served as Treasurer for First Financial Bank ($8.5 billion in assets) in Cincinnati, OH for nearly a decade and has worked at various community banks throughout his more than 35-year career in the Treasury area.

Alain received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Northern Kentucky University and a Master’s of Business Administration in Finance from Xavier University.

Ms. Flatt is a tax senior manager at Crowe LLP with more than nineteen years of experience. She spent two years in industry and the other seventeen years of her career has been spent working at Crowe LLP. Her time at Crowe has been spent working exclusively with clients in the financial institutions industry as part of Crowe's financial services team. She works with a variety of financial institutions and financial services clients, including private and publicly traded institutions. She received a Bachelors in Science in Business Administration with a major in accounting from Samford University and a Masters of Accounting, with a tax specialization, from Belmont University.

Ms. Flatt's experience includes a specialty in S Corporation banking and mortgage financial institution tax and accounting implications and also spends a lot of time in the C Corporation space. She assists in leading the S Corporation bank tax practice at Crowe, where she advises on technical tax and return issues for S Corporation financial institutions. Her experience also includes Federal and State income tax compliance, including a focus on multi-state tax return and compliance issues. She also spends much of her time in financial accounting for income taxes, consulting and accounting surrounding mergers and acquisitions, and accounting for stock-based compensation.

Ms. Flatt's previous speaking engagements include the following: Subchapter S Corporation Annual Conference (TX), Crowe sponsored external client conferences, and a variety of S Corporation internal trainings within Crowe.

Ms. Flatt grew up in the Middle Tennessee area and currently lives with her husband of 18 years and their 12-year-old daughter in Nolensville, Tennessee.