Mr. O’Connor founded Angkor Strategic Advisory Services in March 2009 to assist community banks with regulatory and strategic advice, capital raising and M&A advisory services. Mr. O’Connor has over 25 years experience working with financial institutions as a regulator, commercial lender and investment banker. Since 2004, Mr. O’Connor has been involved in seven M&A transactions with a transaction value of nearly $500 million. Mr. O’Connor has also been a lead or co-manager for offerings by Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. (MBHI), Taylor Capital Group, Inc. (TAYC), Team Financial Inc. (TFIN), First Busey Corporation (BUSE) and Prosperity Bancorporation (PRSP).

Prior to founding Angkor Strategic Advisory Services, Mr. O’Connor worked for Ryan Beck & Co. since 2003 and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. since its acquisition of Ryan Beck in 2007. Prior to joining Stifel/Ryan Beck, Mr. O’Connor spent nearly seven years as an investment banker at Howe Barnes Investments specializing in financial institutions . His earlier career includes four years with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, eight years with Continental Bank and its investment banking arm, Continental Partners, and two years with Bank of America’s Asian Financial Institutions Group, where he served as Business Manager for their Corporate Finance/Capital Markets Group.

Mr. O’Connor is a well known and award winning speaker at bank conferences throughout the United States, including the Wisconsin Bankers Association, the Illinois CPA Society, the Wisconsin CPA Society, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors Annual Convention and individual training sessions for examiners for CSBS, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Financial Managers Society Annual Convention.

Mr. O’Connor has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from DePaul University. He holds both the Series 7 and 63 licenses.