About Us
About Us and our Credit Union Consulting Firm
Who is Mark H. Smith?
Mark is founder of Mark H. Smith, Inc. For more than 30 years, he has shared his expertise in managing balance sheets with over a thousand credit unions via newsletters, webinars, and personal consultations. Smith and his credit union consulting firm now help more than 400 credit unions navigate the opportunities and perils of interest rate risk and liquidity risk on a regular basis.
Meet the Staff
Mark H. Smith, Founder
Mark graduated from Weber State University with a degree in banking and finance in 1977 — and he doesn’t recall ever hearing the terms interest rate risk or IRR in any of his college courses. Yet, the next ten years taught him profound IRR lessons. As a state bank and credit union examiner and assistant CFO at a community bank, Smith witnessed the impact of rapidly increasing interest rates on financial institutions.
In the late 1970s, as rates were deregulated and inflation soared, the cost of short term deposits rose quickly. For some institutions the cost of short-term deposits exceeded long-term loan portfolio yields. Many seasoned financial executives struggled to keep their banks and credit unions solvent. Mark began to dissect and comprehend IRR using financial analysis techniques. His efforts tapped into the emerging power of spreadsheets and their abilities to help with gap analysis and income simulation. Smith began to share his new awareness with credit unions. With his input and enormous efforts from credit union managers, most troubled credit unions survived the high rate era and advanced to serve their members with sound balance sheets.
After these challenging years, Mark further groomed his expertise as a practicing CPA specializing in credit union audits and examinations. Smith exited the accounting profession in the nineties in order to focus on the issues and solutions for IRR. Now, you will likely find him analyzing data, meeting with clients, and conducting free educational IRR webinars. When you work with Mark, you draw on critical lessons from inflationary years as well as periods of favorable economics to help you sustain a sound and profitable credit union in 2014.
Mark and his wife, Martie, of 15 years have 10 children and more than 20 grandchildren between them. Mark enjoys flying his Cessna T210 to visit clients. He is always making time for learning and reading.
Cynthia, CEO
Cynthia is a graduate of the University of Utah, School of Business, with a degree in marketing & finance. She brings over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry. She has worked extensively in both the lending and operations side of the banking and credit union business. Prior to coming to Mark H. Smith Incorporated, she served as internal auditor for a mid-sized credit union.
Cynthia is responsible for the overall management and consultation of ALMPro® Services. She also serves as a consultant to clients with questions in the ALM area.
Cynthia enjoys working with numbers. She says it’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together and seeing how they all relate to one another. She especially enjoys working with “credit union people” across the nation. She wishes she could meet each of you personally.
Sheri, Senior Analyst
Sheri graduated from the School of Business at the University of Utah with a degree in accounting. She brings 13 years’ experience in the accounting and auditing field. As a financial analyst for Mark H. Smith Incorporated, Sheri is responsible for taking the raw data submitted by our clients, properly evaluating that data, and generating the ALMPro® Reports.
Sheri brings to her job a great attention to detail. She especially enjoys working with our clients to help them understand their reports.
Scott, Senior Analyst
Scott is a financial analyst for Mark H. Smith, Inc. and works mainly on the ALMPro Reports. He is also the firm’s IT specialist, or as he calls himself, the CTO.
Scott is a talented musician too. He plays the piano, the cello, the guitar, and even the dijarido. He is currently working on a degree in Mathematics/Physics.
Michelle, Marketing Manager/Client Coordinator/Analyst
Michelle comes to the organization with a degree in Business Management—Finance and with many years of real-world business experience. She has been the finance manager for a small manufacturing company and, later, formed her own small business to help companies with cash flow and financial planning.
She comes from a “credit union family.” Her parents and sister are involved with credit union boards and credit union operations. Since Michelle loves working with numbers and people, the most enjoyable part of her job is working with clients.