About Us

Lori Bettinger

Co-President

Lori is the Co-President of Alliance Partners and serves as the President of BancAlliance. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, Lori served as the Director of the TARP Capital Purchase Program at the Department of the Treasury, focusing on the implementation, investing, and restructuring cycles of the $205 billion portfolio. From 2004-2008, she was a financial economist with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets. Lori received her M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and her B.A. from Yale University.

Fun Fact: A proud Kansan, Lori's childhood banking account was at BancAlliance Member 256.

David Brooks

Senior Managing Director, Client Services

David is a Senior Managing Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners. Prior to Alliance Partners, David worked at FBR & Co and JP Morgan where he was an investment banker in their financial institutions group covering banks & thrifts. He began his career at BankBoston in their financial institutions group after completing their Corporate Banker Program. After the Bank of America acquisition of Fleet, he helped start the correspondent banking group at Eastern Bank, an $8B mutual bank in Boston. David received his B.A. from Union College.

Fun Fact: Fresh into his banking career in Boston, Dave would moonlight as a Spin instructor at Boston Sports Club. Let us know if you ever attended his class!

Francesco Chichizola

Financial Analyst, Client Services

Francesco is a Financial Analyst for Client Services at Alliance Partners. Francesco joins the Clients Services team after spending two years working with the Loan Servicing department at Alliance Partners. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance at Old Dominion University.

Amy Foster

Event and Client Engagement Manager, Client Services

Amy Foster is an Event and Client Engagement Manager of Alliance Partners working in the Client Services team to further business development and manage events. Amy received her undergraduate degree in Strategic Communication from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Fun Fact: On three occasions, Amy has brought her bank’s pneumatic tube home, now prompting a warning before she drives away.

Brian Good

Regional Director, Client Services

Brian is a Regional Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners. For over 20 years, he has been serving community banks, bringing a wealth of experience to BancAlliance members. Brian received his B.S. from Shippensburg University and graduated from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University.

Fun Fact: Brian may not look like it now but he was a State Champion Pole Vaulter in High School. He was also Nationally ranked Decathlete in College and a member of a record breaking, nationally ranked college football team while at Shippensburg University where several of his teammates made it to the NFL as players and coaches.

Wayne Gore

Senior Managing Director, Client Services

Wayne is a Senior Managing Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, Wayne held leadership roles in the Financial Institutions Group with McKinsey & Co. and served as Managing Director at the CEB (Corporate Executive Board) focused on corporate strategy, banking and insurance, and risk management. Previously, Wayne was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs as a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions teams. Wayne received his A.B. from Princeton University and his J.D. and M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Fun Fact: At an old boss’s request and before email was invented, Wayne got to ride the Concorde once…to deliver presentation books (last pickup at FedEx had already passed).

Caroline Hall

Event and Client Engagement Director, Client Services

Caroline Hall is the Event and Client Engagement Director of Alliance Partners working in the Client Services team to further business development and manage events. Caroline received her undergraduate degree in Strategic Communication and Entrepreneurship from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Fun Fact: The banker at Caroline’s local bank has been there since she was 5 years old, and he still offers her lollipops at every visit.

Brendan Hart

Director, Client Services

Brendan is a Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners. Brendan joined the Clients Services team after spending three years working with the Portfolio Management and Underwriting team at Alliance Partners. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, Brendan was a Vice President at Citigroup in the Debt Capital Markets division focused on structuring and underwriting broadly syndicated loans and bonds for institutional and government clients. Brendan received his B.S. from the University of Maryland.

Fun Fact: Brendan does not use ATM machines during thunderstorms. This is a long story which he is happy to share, involving a cash-only restaurant and a poorly timed lightning strike in rural France.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Assistant Vice President, Client Services

Jacqui is the Assistant Vice President for the Client Services team at Alliance Partners. Jacqui joins us from the hospitality industry where she spent over 20-years in the luxury sector, most recently as Senior Executive for The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC. During her tenure, she directed business development activities for multinational clients, including the development of robust commercial strategies and business plans to generate top-line revenue. She conducted detailed market and consumer research, then applied findings to diversify revenue streams and enhance the customer experience.

Fun Fact: Jacqui was born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. at age 7. She now has dual citizenship (Jamaica and United States).

Brennan Kolar

Financial Analyst, Client Services

Brennan is a Financial Analyst for Client Services at Alliance Partners. Brennan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in the spring of 2019 with a major in Accounting and Information Systems and worked in public accounting as an auditor and consultant for the last 2 ½ years in the Philly area. He grew up just north of Philadelphia and recently moved to the DC area. In his free time, Brennan loves to sing and make music, as well as play good golf.

Fun Fact: He played ice hockey growing up and is a huge Flyers fan (sorry to all the Capitals fans!)

Clarence Nichols

Director, Client Services

Clarence is a Director for the Client Services team at Alliance Partners. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Lending Officer of a Kansas City Community Bank. He has more than 25 years of experience in the banking industry and has originated more than $450 million in lending activity with a focus on Commercial & Industrial, Commercial Real Estate, and Public Finance. Clarence’s experience also includes consultative Cash & Treasury Management based solutions. He has several years of experience in serving on various not-for-profit boards and is known for providing knowledge based financial solutions. Clarence has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Bellevue, is a graduate of the Colorado Graduate School of Banking at the University of Boulder and is a graduate of Leadership Omaha and is a recognized performer at the American Institute of Banking, Schools of Banking.

Fun Fact: Clarence has a childhood gift in his ability to play the guitar. He enjoys most genres, including R&B, Jazz, Classical, and Rock, and has performed in front crowds in excess of 1,000. Don't be surprised if you should happen to see him playing on stage in the future!

John Pulliam

Vice President, Client Services

John is a Vice President of Alliance Partners working in the Client Services team to further business development. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, John worked for CEB (Corporate Executive Board) on both the business development and client relationship teams, focusing on advisory support in the Corporate Finance space. During his time at CEB, he worked with many senior executives and their teams to drive performance in a number of different areas within finance. John received his degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Fun Fact: John made his first ever eagle while playing with BancAlliance members in Florida during the 2017 Spring Meeting.

David Schwarz

Senior Managing Director, Client Services

David is a Senior Managing Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners, serving as program manager for the Commercial Loan Program. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, he was an Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance Group where he focused on structuring and underwriting broadly syndicated loans for private equity and corporate clients. David was previously with a litigation consulting firm performing due diligence and forensic accounting services and before that was with PricewaterhouseCoopers. David is a CPA (Virginia) and received his MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in finance and accounting from the University of Virginia.

Fun Fact: At his previous firm, Dave helped underwrite the loan that revived Hostess. He learned that the shelf life of a Twinkie was recently extended from 26-days to 45-days. His initial guess of 50 years was way off.

Tom Thompson

Regional Director, Client Services

Tom is a Regional Director of Client Services at Alliance Partners. Prior to Alliance Partners, Tom was with Bankers' Bank in Northern Illinois focused on building relationships with community banks and providing commercial products and services to increase earning assets and fee income. He has 35 years of experience in commercial banking and finance, including cash flow and asset-based lending, auditing, portfolio management, and business development. Tom received his M.B.A. from the University of Illinois – Chicago and a B.S. from University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana. Tom has served on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics IL since 2008.

Fun Fact: He started playing golf right-handed, then played with left-handed irons and right-handed woods, and only recently plays left-handed, but still putts righty.