James Lock, JP Morgan, Managing Director
James Lock leads the Greater South Treasury Sales team for Healthcare, Higher Education, and Not-For-Profit Banking as part of Commercial Banking's Middle Market Banking and Specialized Industries business. James and his team collaborate with clients in order to solve key payment challenges and optimize their treasury practices by leveraging the firm’s extensive treasury platform and deep industry knowledge. His team works every day to demonstrate the ways in which the firm’s treasury platform can solve problems, address key efficiency opportunities, incorporate best practices, and optimize treasury operations.
In addition to this role, James is also a national Higher Education Industry Executive. James has 30 years of treasury and retail banking experience across the higher education, healthcare, government, and consumer banking sectors. For most of his career, James has served in relationship management and business development roles. James began his banking career at Bank of America in 1990 and joined J.P. Morgan in 2000.
James routinely presents at industry conferences as part of his role as an industry thought leader. Recent presentation topics include: “The Road Ahead: Emerging Trends in Payments”, “A Case for Mobile Payments”, “Disruption Abounds in Higher Ed Payments – Opportunities to Embrace New Technology and be Prepared for the Future”, “Turning ROI into Reality: How Treasury Can Lead the Enterprise in Technological Transformation”, “You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure: Using Data Analytics and Disruptive Technology to Build Better Business Processes,” and “Transforming Treasury: Taking a Collaborative Approach to Improving Treasury Operations,”.
A graduate of Regent University, James holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership and Management and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia College & State University. James has maintained his Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) credential since 2002. He is an active member of the national Association for Financial Professionals and Past President of the local AFP chapter in Atlanta.
Kelli Shomaker, Auburn University, Vice President for Business & Finance and CFO
Kelli Shomaker has served as V-P for Business and Finance/CFO at Auburn University for six and a half years. She has over 25 years of Higher Education senior financial administration experience, including 16 years at Texas A&M University.
Prior to higher education Kelli was the V-P, Treasurer and Controller for a publicly traded investment company and worked as an auditor for the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Kelli serves on the NACUBO Treasury and Investment Advisory Council is on the Board of Control for the Retirement System of Alabama and the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Plan, is a Board member of the Treasury Institute of Higher Education, as well as a Board member of Women in Public Finance Alabama Chapter and the Lee County Boys and Girls Clubs. In her spare time she can be found playing golf or travelling. She is the mother of two grown children.
Susan Slinkard, University of Arkansas, Director of Cash Management
Susan currently serves as Investment Manager, Director of Cash Management for the University of Arkansas, where she is primarily responsible for managing the University's cash and treasury operations, including liquidity, operating funds investments, and relevant accounting interfaces, as well as leading strategic treasury initiatives across the institution. She is actively involved in all aspects of treasury vendor selection and relationship management. Susan’s team is responsible for tracking, monitoring, and/or recording all financial institution activity.
Previously, she was an Assistant Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer for BancorpSouth (now Cadence Bank) and has worked in the banking industry for over a decade in various positions in both retail banking and lending. She has also worked in investments as an equity/economics analyst and retail broker.
Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in financial management from the University of Arkansas and an MBA concentrated in finance from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. She has also earned the Certified Treasury Professional certification.
