Favorite Banker Hall of Fame

I was raised in the great state of North Dakota (City of Mandan) and began my banking career in my senior year of high school. I was chosen to work at The First National Bank of Mandan as part of the ‘On The Job Training Program’. My initial position was an assistant to the President’s Secretary. Upon graduation from high school in 1973, I then worked in Bookkeeping over the summer months and eventually became the Secretary of the Installment Loan Department, Receptionist and Switchboard Operator which was one position at that time.Thus, this first banking opportunity laid the foundation for my entire career in banking. On January 21, 1975 towards the end of the Vietnam era, I enlisted in the US Army for two years and did my basic training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. From there, I was transferred to Germany to work for a NATO Unit in Sandhofen and worked in the Personnel Office handling Officer Records. I extended my service from 2 to 2-1/2 years and received a Honorable Discharge on July 20, 1977.

Our next journey brought us to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado and I went to work for the First National Bank of Colorado Springs in the Credit Loan Department. Which brings me to Houston, Texas in 1982 where I was hired by First City National Bank as a Secretary and then a Services Implementor in the Cash Management Marketing and Sales Department where I worked for a total of 10-1/2 years. In November of 1992, I was hired by Texas Commerce Bank and started out as a secretary in Corporate Cash Management and was eventually promoted to a Client Service Account Manager with Treasury Services whereby I provided customer service to several oil and gas companies for 20 years having the same client contacts during this tenure. My last seven years now under JPMorgan Chase Bank was in Business Banking Sales Strategy Support whereby we reviewed clients for Cross-Line of Business transfers. All in all, my banking career spanned out over 45 years. On June 1st, 2021, I decided to kick back and retire, closing this chapter and beginning a new relaxing one.

Carol Browder

Director, Senior Treasury Officer

Carol Browder is a Senior Treasury Officer based in the Houston Global Commercial Banking office in Houston. In this role, Carol works closely with prospects and clients to create customized liquidity and treasury structures. Clients are diverse and range from locally owned companies to large publicly traded or sponsor owned companies.

Carol has worked in banking since 1980 and joined Bank of America in 1995. She received her BBA from the University of Texas and started her career in credit prior to transitioning to treasury sales in 1988.

Carol has been recognized by the local Houston Treasury Management Association as a Hall of Fame Favorite Banker after having won the annual favorite banker award for six years. She is active in the local community and is a Life-Time Committee Member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Carol enjoys spending time with friends and family and loves to travel.

Terry P. Cargill

After 32 years in banking, Terry retired from JPMorgan Chase as a Managing Director, moving into the nonprofit sector as a leader at WaterStone, a Christian Foundation, where he served for over six years. Although mostly retired, Terry is now an Executive Coach and loving the role!

Most of Terry’s career has been centered in Corporate/Commercial Banking and Treasury Management where he has held a number of leadership roles. As a Certified Treasury Professional, Terry has spoken at numerous conferences on various treasury management topics and has been honored as a “Hall of Fame Banker” by the Houston Treasury Management Association.

Terry and his wife of 39 years, Barbara, graduates of Baylor University, have three adult sons, a daughter-in-law and precious granddaughter. They reside in The Woodlands area and are active in their church and community where they serve on a number of nonprofit boards.

Jose Gomez, CTP

Jose Gomez is a Treasury Management Consultant at Wells Fargo Bank NA. He has been in treasury management since 1982 and has worked for several major global financial institutions. Jose has spent his entire career in Treasury Management primarily supporting the energy industry. Jose has been a supporter of the HTMA and TEXPO for decades.

Jose earned his BBA in Marketing from Pace University in New York in 1982. He was a permanent CCM and evolved to the CTP certification when it was created.

Julie Guyton

As Senior Vice President at Susser Bank, Julie Guyton has over 40 years of financial experience. Currently, she is responsible for assisting companies with their treasury and liquidity needs and for strategic planning related to the bank’s funding and deposit platforms. She works closely with Treasury Management, Commercial Lending, and other key areas of the bank, partnering to help provide coverage of a client’s liquidity needs.

Prior to joining Susser Bank, she worked at Texas Capital Bank for three years, where she assisted companies with investing their excess cash and was involved with the strategic planning related to the bank’s corporate liquidity and investment platform. She also spent fifteen years at Amegy Bank and twenty years at JPMorgan Chase, where she managed a Corporate Investments team at each bank.

Ms. Guyton is a six-time recipient of the Houston Treasury Management Association (HTMA) Favorite Banker award. In addition, she was inducted into the HTMA Hall of Fame in December 2017. This award is voted on and chosen by HTMA members and is awarded to bankers who demonstrate outstanding customer service and dedication to treasury professionals across companies in Houston.

Prior work experience includes both sales and management responsibilities at Amegy Bank (2002 to 2017) and JPMorgan Chase (1984-2002). She holds the Series 7, 24, 27, 52, 53 and 63 licenses and has a BBA in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin.

She resides in Houston with her husband, and they have two grown children.

Chris McFarland

Managing Director | Treasury Manager
Global Commercial Bank | Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Chris McFarland has been a Managing Director in Global Payment Solutions at Bank of America where he manages a sales team responsible for Commercial Banking clients in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and Missouri since 2018. After receiving his degree in Finance from the University of Houston in 1987 he began his career in Cash Management at Brown & Root Engineering and Construction, he moved to First City Bank of Texas in 1989 where he held a number of positions in Product Management. Chris returned to Corporate Cash Management in 1991 at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation where he earned the designation of Permanently Certified Cash Manager, Certified Treasury Professional and other industry awards from AFP for his leadership in publications for the HTMA. Following the merger of Bank One and First Chicago NBD he joined the newly formed organization in 1999 as First Vice President in Treasury Sales covering clients in the Southwest and eventually leading the Energy and Mexico Large Corporate Sales Team. In 2004 Chris took the role of Industry Sales Head of Technology, Pharma and Chemicals at JPMorgan Chase where he ultimately held positions in Commercial Card, Transportation, Aerospace Defense and Natural Resources covering Fortune 500 Companies. During his first 6 years in banking Chris was fortunate to be recognized as Favorite Banker for the Houston Treasury Management Association in 1999-2003 and ultimately Hall of Fame Banker in 2004. Chris had a number of great mentors during his time in the industry including Tom Lockwood and Randy Tonnesen and his approach to Treasury client relationships was greatly influenced by other Hall of Fame Bankers Terry Cargill, Debbie Yokum and Joe Gomez.

Elisa McLennan

It goes without saying – Gone too soon.

Bio coming soon. 

Mike Sultanik

Before retiring, Mike Sultanik served as a Senior Vice President and Relationship Manager for the Commercial Banking Department of the Bank of Texas between October 2010 and December 2016. In this capacity, Mike was responsible for developing and retaining new business relationships for both credit and non-credit customers in the Houston, Texas market place.

Before joining Bank of Texas, Mike was a Vice President and Relationship Manager for the Commercial Lending Department at Wells Fargo in downtown Houston from December 2000 to October 2010. Prior to that, Mike served as Vice President and Treasury Management Sales officer at Wells Fargo from November 1996 to December 2000.

Wells Fargo hired Mike in November 1996 from his position as the Director of Treasury Operations at National Convenience Stores, a billion dollar publicly traded retail chain, which was later acquired by Diamond Shamrock. Mike had responsibilities for running the company’s treasury operations from November 1986 through November 1996. Previously, Mike worked as a Senior Financial Analyst at Tenneco Inc., and held several other positions in the Tenneco organization between March 1977 and November 1986.

During his business career, Mike became a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Before starting his business career, Mike attended the University of Texas at Austin where he earned an MBA degree in Accounting and Finance.

In addition to attending the first TEXPO in 1983, Mike was involved in a number of treasury management community service and business activities including those listed below.

• Won 1st Place in the national Treasury Management Association’s (AFP) annual Innovations in Treasury
  Management program – 1991
• President of the Houston Treasury Management Association (HTMA) – 1994
• Chairman of the HTMA’s first Board of Directors – 1994
• Founding member of the Alliance of Texas Treasury Associations (ATTA) – 1994
• Held various officer and committee positions in HTMA – 1991 – 1995
• Served on the national TMA’s CCM Test Committee – 1992 – 1994
• Provided numerous presentations at HTMA and TEXPO events – 1991 – 2014
• Inducted into the HTMA’s Favorite Banker Hall of Fame – 2015
• Committee member for HTMA’s Space City and TEXPO committees – 2018 – 2019
• Instructor in the CCM/CTP Review course for Rice University in Houston, Texas – 2006 – 2016

Victoria A. Varner, CTP, CPCP

Executive Director, Division Sales Manager for Energy & Power and Affiliate & Internals Wells Fargo & Company

Victoria Varner is an executive director and division sales manager for the Energy & Power and the Affiliates & Internals Global Treasury Management groups at Wells Fargo. Based in Houston, she leads a team of treasury consultants serving energy, utilities, and renewable energy, as well as affiliates and internal clients across the United States.

Victoria began her international banking career in her home country, Argentina, with ABN AMRO Bank, where she held positions in marketing, capital markets, and global transaction services. In 1993, she was transferred to ABN AMRO’s headquarters in The Netherlands where she worked in corporate finance, specializing in Latin America and emerging markets.

In 1996, she returned to Argentina to manage the marketing and communications team in charge of the retail expansion of the bank in South America. She transferred to ABN AMRO Houston in 1999, as an international cash management consultant. More recently, she held several cash management roles at JPMorgan Chase and joined Wells Fargo in 2006 as a treasury management consultant for the Energy & Power division, the group that she has managed since 2017.

Victoria earned her bachelor and master’s degrees in international relations from the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) and a Certified Purchasing Card Professional (CPCP). As a passionate traveler and explorer of different cultures, she’s fluent in Spanish, English, Dutch, and French, and also speaks Portuguese and Italian.

Victoria serves on the board of directors of Child Advocates Inc., an organization devoted to end the cycle of child abuse and neglect, where she is also a court- appointed advocate. She’s a member of the Women’s Energy Network, the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Executive Women’s Golf Association.

Debbie Yokum

Worked at First City National Bank/Texas Commerce Bank from 1983 to 1996 in treasury management sales.

In 1996 moved to Dallas, TX and worked for Bank of America also in treasury management sales. Retired from banking in 1998 and began volunteering at my daughter’s school.

Moved to Baltimore, MD in 2000 where I continued as a volunteer at my daughter’s schools and helped with extra-curricular activities.

In 2009, I went from a volunteer to a full-time position as an Administrative Assistant at Notre Dame Preparatory School, an all-girl independent Catholic school. I have been working at Notre Dame for 14 years primarily in the Advancement/Development department.