Our Team

Leadership

Pam Ware Story Financial Partners President & Chief Operating Officer

Curt Gabardi

President, Chief Executive Officer

What inspired you to be a banker?

I wanted to impact lives. For colleagues I work with or clients that I often advise, I realize that my experiences over time can favorably change outcomes or lead to self- actualizing life opportunities, personally and professionally.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

To be a founder of one of the most exciting and successful banking brands in the southeast if not industry wide with people that I deeply care about. Founding Metropolitan was one of the proudest moments of my career that ultimately led me and others to this story and becoming Story Financial Partners.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

For me, it’s always been about determination and persistence in achieving one’s goals while, at the same time, never underestimating the power of an impassioned small group of people to achieve something special and unique.

Curt Gabardi

President, Chief Executive Officer

Pam Gordon

President, Chief Operating Officer

What inspired you to be a banker?

I was inspired to be a banker because of my mom. Growing up, watching her building an impactful career in banking showed me the power of helping others feel secure, supported, and confident in their financial lives. She made a difference in the community every day, and I knew I wanted to do the same.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

Being able to work with a team of talented bankers and support them in our different communities that the Bank serves. If the team has the resources that they need to make a difference to our clients every day, I feel that we are a success.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Pam Gordon

President, Chief Operating Officer

Brian Rippee

Chief Banking Officer

What do you consider your greatest achievement in banking?

Growing First Commercial to triple its size in 5 years.

What are some organizations you are involved with?

I am honored to be able to serve the community in a number of ways, including board positions at the Country Club of Jackson, the Kidney Foundation, the 100 Club, the Investment Committee for Community Foundation and the Diabetes Foundation.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Bring value to everything you do.”

Brian Rippee

Chief Banking Officer

Eric Hanbury

Chief Credit Officer

What inspired you to be a banker?

When I first started in banking, I interviewed at a local bank not really knowing where it would lead—but I took the job and quickly realized how critical credit is to the success of both the bank and its clients. Now, I’m proud to play a key role in that process. I was immediately drawn to the credit side of the Bank because of the challenge of balancing risk with opportunity. I enjoy reviewing financials, understanding each business’s story, and structuring sound credit decisions that support both the bank’s growth and our clients’ success.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Golf, golf and more golf!

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Credit is a privilege, not a right—earned through trust, maintained through discipline.” — Unknown

Eric Hanbury

Chief Credit Officer

Melissa Dambro — Eric Hanbury Story Financial Partners Executive Managing Director & Chief Credit Officer

Melissa P. Dambro

Chief Talent Officer

What are your hobbies or interests?

Singing/listening to music, watching French Chateau renovations, and collecting antique porcelain and glassware.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing; that is enough for one man’s life.” – T.S. Eliot

Melissa Dambro

Chief Talent Officer

Ruth Eiland

Chief Financial Officer

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

Being entrusted as the Chief Financial Officer.

What community organizations do you actively serve?

I am proud to be a member of the MRA Gardens Steering Committee.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Stories connect what numbers can’t – who we are, why we care, and what we stand for.”

Ruth Eiland

Chief Financial Officer

Sam Lane

Chief Development Officer

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

Being a founding member of First Commercial Bank, now Story Financial Partners.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I enjoy following Ole Miss sports and collecting art from Mississippi artists.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Sam Lane

Chief Development Officer

Jamie Chustz

Chief Commercial Real Estate Banking Officer

Where did you go to school?

I attended Mississippi State University for my undergraduate degree and obtained a double major in Banking and Finance and Real Estate graduating in December 1996. I then obtained my MBA at Millsaps College.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I enjoy travel with my family, tennis, hunting and outdoor activities.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Make each day your masterpiece” – John Wooden.

Jamie Chustz

Chief Commercial Real Estate Banking Officer

Freddie Rowell

Chief Mortgage Banking Officer

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

I consider my greatest achievement is having the majority of my staff has worked for me over 15 years, 3 of them over 25 years!

What are your hobbies or interests?

I farm cattle and grow crops and am an avid duck hunter.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.” – Henry Ford

Freddie Rowell

Chief Mortgage Banking Officer

Thomas Harrison

Director of Treasury Management

What inspired you to be a banker?

My mother inspired me to become a banker. I watched her enjoy a successful and rewarding 50-year banking career.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

Being a part of building and developing a team of Treasury Management experts who provide a premier experience to our Story business clients.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

Thomas Harrison

Director of Treasury Management

Managing Directors – Jackson

Dawson Graves

Senior Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

I actually never wanted to be a banker. I took this job right out of college, and fell in love with the place, the people, and the industry. I’ve loved it ever since.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

My favorite thing to do is help finance businesses that someone has always dreamed of doing and watching them have incredible success.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

Don’t complain – just work harder.

You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but you can be kind to anyone.

Dawson Graves

Senior Managing Director

Eric Hanbury Story Financial Partners Executive Managing Director & Chief Credit Officer

Wade Higgins

Associate Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

What inspired me most was the idea that, as a banker, you’re not just managing numbers, you’re helping people bring ideas to life and make a lasting impact on the community.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

I consider my greatest achievement in banking as helping multiple small businesses structure deals that make sense both financially and strategically and seeing that first project turn into several more. Playing a small role in helping customers build something lasting is incredibly rewarding.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

My favorite quote is a short, but universally applicable one from the late Jimmy Valvano. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Wade Higgins

Associate Managing Director

Hannah McGraw

Associate Managing Director, Treasury Management Advisor

What inspired you to be a banker?

In 2015, I had dinner with some friends of my mom’s. They saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. They continued to believe in me, mentor me, encourage and challenge me. Their belief in me lit the spark that started my journey in banking and their continued support has helped shape who I am today.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I love to read, travel, and spend time near the water – whether it’s the beach, a boat, or being outside by the lake. I’m also into calligraphy!

What is your favorite quote or motto?

Romans 12:12 – Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Hannah McGraw

Associate Managing Director, Treasury Management

Elisa Phillips

Senior Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

My father encouraged me in high school to pursue a business degree – particularly in banking or accounting—explaining that more women were entering management roles in the business world and that I had the potential to succeed in that path.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

Being a female commercial managing director in a primarily male dominated industry.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4: 6-7

Elisa Phillips

Senior Managing Director

Hank Waterer

Managing Director, Private Client

What inspired you to be a banker?

Growing up with a medical family, I always saw their jobs as helping people. While I did not pursue the medical route, I see the same opportunity in banking and finance to help people.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

My greatest achievement in banking has been leveraging available resources to build strong relationships within my local community, helping to promote growth and drive positive development in Jackson.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Focusing our energy on the controllable inputs is the most effective way to maximize financial outputs over time.” – Jeff Bezos.

Hank Waterer

Managing Director, Private Client

Managing Directors – Ridgeland

Nathan Best

Senior Managing Director

What led you to Story Financial Partners?

The opportunity to connect with and serve a new generation of business owners and clients just beginning their careers.

What inspired you to be a banker?

My great-grandfather founded a bank after returning from the Korean war. He is one of my heroes and greatest role models. If I can come close to the career and legacy he built, both professionally and personally, I’ll consider that an incredible success.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Watching my kids play sports, coaching basketball, playing golf and pickleball, and pursuing different athletic/fitness challenges.

What’s your favorite quote or motto?

“Work, not wish.”

Nathan Best

Senior Managing Director

Bryan Nesbit

Senior Managing Director

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

The opportunity to be an intrapreneur of sorts in building a new line of business in residential construction lending has been truly rewarding. Through our efforts, we have established Story Financial Partners as a trusted partner in the local construction lending community and are well respected by our clients and peer financial institutions.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I have been a soccer referee at youth, high school, NCAA and adult levels. I also enjoy keeping fit and following Mississippi State sports.

What’s your favorite quote or motto?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

Bryan Nesbit

Senior Managing Director

June Owens

Senior Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

My sister. After a few years in public accounting, I was ready for a new challenge. She worked for Wells Fargo out of college and sold me on the wide breadth of people and businesses I would be introduced to and able to help.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I enjoy spending time with my family, swimming, running and relaxing!

What’s your favorite quote or motto?

Better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed at doing the wrong thing.

June Owens

Senior Managing Director

Elizabeth Purcell — Eric Hanbury Story Financial Partners Executive Managing Director & Chief Credit Officer

Elizabeth Wilcox Purcell

Managing Director, Private Client

What inspired you to be a banker?

“Private banking is like a sorority recruitment”- a mentor once told me this while at Ole Miss and being that I was serving as rush chair that same year, I thought, I may be a good fit for Private Banking. Just like recruiting new members to join your sorority and then pledging, Private Banking allows me to invite new clients into our banking family.

Any Public Speaking Engagements or Panels?

2019 RMA Women in Banking- Mentoring Champions- Speaker and Panelist

What’s your favorite quote or motto?

Refuse to be average.

Elizabeth Purcell

Managing Director, Private Client

Managing Directors – Oxford

Lucius Brock

Senior Managing Director, Market President

What inspired you to be a banker?

My favorite movie is It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey, the protagonist, was a banker and loved by all in his community as he truly cared for his town and his customers and always put their needs before himself. The definition of a selfless leader.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Coaching my son’s baseball team, golf, college sporting events, family trips.

What community organizations do you actively serve?

I am an active member at Christ Presbyterian Church Oxford, MS.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Do the right thing.” – my dad.

Lucius Brock

Senior Managing Director, Market President

Lynn Carson

Senior Managing Director, Regional Commercial Strategies

What was your first job in banking or finance?

Teller at First National Bank in Oxford while in grad school.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in Banking?

My greatest achievements in banking have always been being involved and contributing to the success of my clients.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Hunting, traveling, always looking for a music concert to attend.

Lynn Carson

Senior Managing Director, Regional Commercial Strategies

Managing Directors – Southaven

Justin Bobo

DeSoto County Market President, Senior Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

Banking was something I never considered until after I graduated college and entered the job market. A friend in the industry suggested I had the right skills, so I decided to give it a try. I was hired on my first interview and never looked back.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Hunting and music concerts.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Experience is the teacher of all things.” – Julius Caesar

Justin Bobo

Senior Managing Director, Market President

Bobby McRee

Senior Managing Director

What inspired you to be a banker?

I always looked to bankers as folks that truly helped people to do better in life. I enjoy helping people.

Any Public Speaking Engagements or Panels?

I have been a board member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for 16+ years and a director/organizer for the annual Special Olympics Track & Field games in my community.

What is your favorite quote or motto?

Try to live by and exude the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Bobby McRee

Senior Managing Director

Managing Directors – Memphis

Matthew Wages — Eric Hanbury Story Financial Partners Executive Managing Director & Chief Credit Officer

Matthew A. Wages

Senior Managing Director, Memphis Market President

What inspired you to be a banker?

A high school friend’s dad was a market leader with Southtrust Bank while I was growing up and I remember always asking him questions about his job. He told me when I was graduating high school that I should consider banking for a career.

What are your hobbies or interests?

Golf, traveling with my family, and Auburn sports

What is your favorite quote or motto?

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

Matthew Wages

Senior Managing Director, Market President

Kera Cooper

Senior Managing Director, Private Client

Sarah Haney

Managing Director, Treasury Management

Karissa Norman

Managing Director, Private Client

Managing Directors – Huntsville

Chris Allen

Market President

Mortgage Team

Marcus Casano

Mortgage Production Manager

Joseph Johnson

Senior Mortgage Specialist

Michelle Mason

Mortgage Lending Specialist

Ernie Turner

Senior Mortgage Specialist

Matt Wilson

Senior Mortgage Specialist

Trust Team

Ashley Sims

Managing Director, Trust

Joslyn Day

Associate Trust Officer

Mastering the art of business banking.

Personal banking services for professionals.

Our services are tailor-made for each client.

Leadership

Curt Gabardi

Pam Gordon

Brian Rippee

Eric Hanbury

Melissa Dambro

Ruth Eiland

Sam Lane

Jamie Chustz

Freddie Rowell

Thomas Harrison

Managing Directors – Jackson

Dawson Graves

Wade Higgins

Hannah McGraw

Elisa Phillips

Hank Waterer

Managing Directors – Ridgeland

Nathan Best

Bryan Nesbit

June Owens

Elizabeth Purcell

Managing Directors – Oxford

Lucius Brock

Lynn Carson

Managing Directors – Southaven

Justin Bobo

Bobby McRee

Managing Directors – Memphis

Matthew Wages

Kera Cooper

Sarah Haney

Karissa Norman

Managing Directors – Huntsville

Chris Allen

Mortgage Team

Marcus Casano

Joseph Johnson

Michelle Mason

Ernie Turner

Matt Wilson

Trust Team

Ashley Sims

Joslyn Day

Deonte Sanders

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