Mr. Locke advises management and directors on the strategic options available to financial institutions. He has worked with clients on both the buy-side and sell-side of mergers and acquisitions as well as branch and subsidiary divestitures. In addition to M&A activities, Mr. Locke is also involved in raising capital, both debt and equity, for community banks and thrifts. In this capacity, he has handled the conversion of mutual thrifts to stock form and private placements of equity and trust preferred securities. Throughout his career, Mr. Locke has advised clients on a wide variety of transactions representing more than a billion dollars in aggregate transaction value. Furthermore, he has authored or contributed to various publications on the banking industry. He has recently been featured in the Dallas Business Journal and the American Banker. For the past two years, Mr. Locke was a guest speaker at Bank Director magazine's national mergers and acquisitions conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Prior to joining Hovde Financial, Mr. Locke worked for an international consulting firm that is now part of Navigant Consulting, Inc. During his tenure in management consulting, he focused on strategic planning and valuation services for clients in the financial services, healthcare and utility industries.

Mr. Locke earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Michigan and remains involved in the University's Alumni Association. Mr. Locke is a CFA charterholder (Chartered Financial Analyst) and is licensed with the Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as a registered representative (series 7 and 63). He is also a member of the CFA Institute and Society of Chicago. Mr. Locke actively works with and has served on the board of charitable organizations. He supports initiatives to improve the quality of life in third world counties, and has traveled to Lesotho (Southern Africa), Venezuela and Brazil to provide medical care, build homes and provide food to people living under challenging conditions.