MANAGING DIRECTOR
Piper Sandler Financial Services Investment Banking

Avi J. Barak is a managing director within financial services investment banking at Piper Sandler.

Barak advises the boards and senior management of financial institutions on strategic matters including capital raising, mergers & acquisitions, balance sheet restructurings & optimizations, and asset/liability management. He also works with institutional clients, including private equity firms, hedge funds and money managers in both evaluating and executing equity and debt investments in financial institutions. Barak has worked on dozens of capital raises and mergers, ranging in value from the single-digit millions, to nearly one billion. Barak represents clients of all sizes in the financial services space.

Previously, he was a managing director in the investment banking group of Sandler O’Neill + Partners, which he joined in 2003. Prior to joining the investment banking group, Barak served as a managing director in equity research, focused on regional and community banks and the banking industry. In 2006, Barak was recognized by Forbes.com/StarMine as the #2 stock picker for the commercial banks industry. From 2007 through 2009, Barak was the winner of the SNL Dartboard Challenge, the only three-time winner since the inception of the contest. As an analyst, Barak spoke at various bank industry conferences, and was routinely quoted in the business news media including The Wall Street Journal, The American Banker, and SNL Financial.

Barak began his career in the equity research department of Prudential Securities, where he focused on regional banks and the banking industry.

Barak graduated from Cornell University with a double major in economics and psychology. He resides in Rockland County, New York with his wife and four children.

MANAGING DIRECTOR
Piper Sandler Financial Strategies

Matt C. Brunner is a Managing Director in the Piper Sandler Financial Strategies (PSFS) group at Piper Sandler, where he works with financial institutions in the areas of balance sheet management, asset liability modeling, investment portfolio management, hedging, and strategic business planning.

Mr. Brunner previously worked in Sandler O’Neill’s Balance Sheet Analysis & Strategy Group where he advised on financial institution investment portfolios. Prior to joining Sandler O’Neill in 2011, Mr. Brunner was an equity research analyst at Meredith Whitney Advisory Group covering the bank sector, after starting his career at Bank of America as an analyst in the equity research department.

Mr. Brunner holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, where he graduated with honors. He resides in Prairie Village, KS with his wife and three children.

PRESIDENT & CEO
Pitney Bowes Bank

On March 1, 2019, Ed was elected to serve as President & CEO of the Pitney Bowes Bank by the Bank’s Board of Directors. In this role, Ed is responsible for all functions, activities, personnel, profitability, and processes of the Bank. In his tenure, he has relocated the bank during COVID, implemented a new bank platform, and introduced many new products for the bank.

Mr. Haidenthaller joined Pitney Bowes Bank as a Vice President and Chief Investment Officer in the fall of 2014. In this capacity, he was responsible for all aspects of oversight and reporting for the Bank’s $400 million investment portfolio. He came to the Bank with varied experience ranging from being a bank CFO/COO to a pension plan and bond fund manager. Ed’s background has been in financial management and capital markets, including serving as a Fin-Op and assistant controller of a large broker-dealer (Wells Fargo Van Kasper). He also owns a small boutique venture capital firm. Prior to joining Pitney Bowes, Mr. Haidenthaller served as the CFO and COO of both NHB Holdings, Inc. and Proficio Bank, both of Salt Lake City, Utah, which specialized in residential mortgage production and secondary marketing of that production.

Ed’s financial services career, beginning in 1984, includes retail bank branch operations and risk management at First Security Bank, Zions Bank, Lehman Brothers Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank as well as having consulted with 61 banks on internal audit, compliance, and efficiency structuring. He has been a trader for a global mutual fund company, a large corporate pension plan fiduciary and manager, as well as a fixed income bond fund manager. His consulting work includes over 8 years in financial services, operational efficiency, internal audit, regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and FDICIA and SOX compliance for Jefferson Wells, Experis, McGladrey & Pullen LLP, and Protiviti. He led the western US financial services practice for Jefferson Wells for over 4 years while publishing articles in Reuters, Directors & Boards Magazine, and Connect Utah.

Mr. Haidenthaller is on the Board of Directors and serves as Audit Committee Chair of an Oil & Gas company, was Chairman of the Board for a non-profit Hospice for the Homeless facility (The INN Between), and recently retired after 7 years as President and Vice- President of a local competition soccer club with over 60 teams and 3 national titles. He holds an MBA from the University of Utah and an undergraduate degree in Corporate Finance (with a minor in Investment Management) from Weber State University.