Financing Strategies to Achieve Growth Goals

As the Southeast Region Head for Commercial Banking, my focus is to effectively grow our business, which provides customized lending solutions to mid-sized, public and private companies, primarily in the Southeast.

Leveraging over two decades experience, I’m able to make use of the Bank’s global suite of capabilities for our valued clients, providing for a differentiated experience. Creating brand awareness, my deep-seated commitment, and an ability to foster pertinent connections both internally and externally, are all strategic assets I bring to the table.

I lead by example, using an accessible, hands-on approach to mentor a team of dedicated thought leaders who create unique, value-added ideas in our market. Working with our partners across all of BMO’s specialties allows clients to access a host of services in addition to commercial lending, including treasury management, equipment financing, interest rate protection, foreign exchange, trade finance, wealth management, asset management, cross-border solutions, and the broader Debt Capital Markets and M&A advisory in conjunction with BMO Capital Markets. What distinguishes us most is our dedication to understanding our clients, their industry, and ultimately, providing innovative solutions to finance their vision for growth.

Mr. Hagar has over 17 years of lending experience, including loan structuring, underwriting, portfolio management, and restructuring. He specializes in leveraged lending, mergers and acquisitions, and recapitalizations for middle market and lower middle market companies utilizing both cash flow and asset-based structures. Mr. Hagar worked at Chatham Capital from 2004 to 2014, prior to rejoining Chatham Capital in 2017. From 2014 until 2016, Mr. Hagar was a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase in the Middle Market Banking group, where he was responsible for relationship management and new business development. Mr. Hagar also held positions with UMB Financial Corporation, where he was responsible for new deal underwriting, portfolio monitoring and risk ratings analysis, and Central Bancompany, where he was a Loan Review Analyst. Mr. Hagar received a BSBA in Finance from the University of Missouri. He also holds an MBA in Finance from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

A life-long resident of Atlanta, GA, Mark Hawn is a serial entrepreneur and growth-oriented CEO, with over 30 years of experience in litigation support services.

Mark founded Atlanta Legal Copies in 1988 with five employees, and grew the company into Legal Copies International, in 26 cities with over 2,500 employees and annualized sales of $100 million. As a result, he was named Atlanta’s Entrepreneur of the year in 1993, and INC magazine recognized the business as one of the fastest growing companies in America for three consecutive years (1994, 1995, 1996). The company was acquired by Ikon in 1996.

Liz originates and structures syndicated bank loans for BMO’s corporate clients with nearly fifteen years of experience. Previously, she was in BMO’s Leveraged Finance group where she originated and structured both syndicated loans and high yield bond financings for private equity and corporate clients across a variety of industries. Liz earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from DePauw University