Mr. Shanklin has over thirty (30) years’ experience in the areas of corporate finance, commercial real estate finance, mergers & acquisitions and complex corporate debt restructurings on a national basis. His experience is invaluable when working with the firm’s entrepreneurial clients in the areas of corporate and real estate finance structures, commercial real estate acquisition and sale transactions, business succession planning and corporate restructurings.
Prior to joining Anita L. Barber, P.A., Mr. Shanklin was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RGS Advisors, LLC, a boutique investment banking firm in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Shanklin represented clients in numerous industries, including significant representations in the franchise restaurant space, involving complex finance, merger and acquisition transactions and corporate debt restructurings with an aggregate value of over $3 billion.
Mr. Shanklin was formerly the Chief Credit Officer for Lehman Brothers’ Franchise Finance Group reporting to the co-head of Global Asset Based Lending in New York, NY. Mr. Shanklin is credited with developing Lehman Brothers’ franchise finance business from a start-up operation. He wrote Lehman’s credit policies and procedures for underwriting, valuation, environmental risk management, servicing and special servicing to enable the Wall Street institution to engage in franchise restaurant and retail energy finance on a national basis. Under Mr. Shanklin’s leadership, Lehman Brothers’ underwrote over $1.2 billion in securitized debt and sale-leaseback transactions in the first 18 months of operations.
Mr. Shanklin was formerly the Chief Credit Officer for CNL Financial in Orlando, Florida. While at this firm, Mr. Shanklin developed a Structured Finance Underwriting Group from a “start-up” operation to an eight-member team. This team successfully underwrote over 100 securitized debt, sale-leaseback and equipment finance transactions with funded exposure of $530 million and unfunded exposure of $320 million. Mr. Shanklin also co-negotiated a $300 million warehouse and commercial paper conduit facility and a $200 million warehouse facility with a “AAA” rated international bank and a domestic, super-regional bank, respectively.
Mr. Shanklin enjoyed a commercial banking career that spanned ten (10) years and managed a $500 million national middle market loan and equipment lease portfolio for a division of AT&T Capital in Morristown, New Jersey. He was also the Senior Loan Workout Officer for The National Bank of Sussex County, in Branchville, New Jersey, a $300 million community bank. Under Mr. Shanklin’s leadership as the Head of the Special Assets Department and Chairman of the Loan Workout Committee, the bank was successful in reducing non-performing assets from 38% to 10% in less than eighteen (18) months while operating under a Consent Order with the OCC. The rehabilitated bank was subsequently sold as a healthy institution four (4) years later.
Mr. Shanklin has spoken at numerous finance conferences and guest lectured at the University of Central Florida. In addition, he has served as a faculty member at the ABA’s National Commercial Lending Graduate School and National Commercial Lending School at the University of Oklahoma, where he lectured before senior and middle management bankers. Mr. Shanklin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.