EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM

About Us

Douglas Cunningham

Mr. Cunningham is a Co-Founder and President of Synergy. Prior to forming Synergy, Mr. Cunningham founded the mergers and acquisitions department of Sisung Securities Corporation, a regional securities firm, where he developed and executed numerous mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and financial advisory assignments in a broad range of industries.

Mr. Cunningham began his career as a tax specialist with KPMG Peat Marwick, where he was involved in the structuring of financial transactions and preparation of corporate regulatory filings.

Mr. Cunningham earned a Master of Business Administration Degree and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting from Loyola University. In addition, he is a Certified Public Accountant (currently unlicensed) and a business valuations specialist.

Lynn K Bahr

Lynn K Bahr grew up in Minnesota and had attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout concentrating on Tourism and Travel. Lynn K Bahr has been working in the financial industry for over a 20 year period, beginning her career at a community bank in Opelika, Alabama where she worked her way through various departments until she settled on Loan Review. Lynn was also actively involved in American Institute of Banking, serving on the East Alabama Chapter Board for three years and obtaining three separate diplomas from AIB.

Lynn’s expertise includes: loan reviews (varying scopes and sizes) compliance audits, HMDA scrubs, operational analysis and reviews; denovo bank assistance, and several training sessions with various institutions. She has also attended Loan Review certification courses offered through Bank Institute Administration in Chicago, IL.

Doug Deese

Doug Deese has served the banking industry for over 37 years in operational and executive management level positions. Since 1996 he has been a Principal Consultant which provides management and consulting services (including management consulting, loan review, credit analysis, de novo bank formation, software development, network administration, internal operations review and enhancements) to financial institutions. Doug served in various management and operational capacities as Vice President, AmSouth Bank, Vice President, Colonial Bank, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Home Federal Savings Bank of Alabama.

Doug’s academic credits include a BS degree, Business Administration, from Jacksonville State University, a Banking and Finance graduate school degree from Jacksonville State University and a Bank Operations degree from The School of Bank Administration, Bank Administration Institute.

Barbara Eskridge

Barbara Eskridge began her career in banking in 1992 at a local community bank in Selma, AL with the majority of her years spent in the Internal Audit Department. Currently, Ms. Eskridge specializes in Internal Audit, Compliance, Internal Loan Review, Risk Assessments, and Policies and Procedure manual services.

Ms. Eskridge’s academic credits include a BS degree in Resources Management from Troy University, Certificate in Banking from Wallace Community College Selma, Cannon Financial Institute Internal Audit School, and an Advanced Certification in Crystal Reports Writing and Development from Auburn University Montgomery

Scott Krieger

Scott Krieger has been at Synergy Partners since September of 2011 and manages the firm’s advisory practice and consults with financial institutions. He is the head of the firm’s underwriting department, which handles more than $500 million in loans per year for financial institutions nationwide. Additionally, Krieger manages the mortgage quality control program, which provides post-closing and pre-funding audits for mortgage bankers nationwide.

Krieger has more than 16 years of experience in the banking industry with expertise in small business and commercial lending, consistently ranking in the top level of his peers for production. He began his career at Gulf Coast Bank and Trust as a commercial loan officer, then served as a vice president and branch manager at Resource Bank, where he piloted the bank’s community liaison program. As a vice president and commercial lender at Parish National Bank, he became known for his expertise in construction and development lending. He was regularly recognized for his production in these areas. Ten years after he began as a loan officer, he returned to Gulf Coast Bank as vice president and emphasized small business and development loans. He served as one of the bank’s premier SBA lenders. He also managed all aspects of the loan process, including underwriting loans. Throughout his career, he has handled loan portfolios of more than $30,000,000 and has maintained a standard of excellence in customer service that created a loyal following of customers, even as he moved up in his career from bank to bank.

Krieger has a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of New Orleans and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Louisiana State University. He lives in Mandeville with his wife, Kadee and their four children.