Mark G. Merlo is a Principal and joined Castle Creek^® in early 1996. Mr. Merlo currently serves as Chairman of the Board of The BANKshares, Inc. and Atlanta Bancorporation, Inc.

Prior to joining Castle Creek^®, Mr. Merlo spent approximately 12 years with several banking institutions, most recently with Mercantile Bancorp, where he was responsible for hedging the bank's loan portfolio and establishing and implementing the bank's portfolio hedging, risk management and portfolio pricing and valuation policies. Prior to Mercantile Bancorp, Mr. Merlo worked at United Postal Bancorporation as Vice President and Investment Portfolio Manager, where he managed the bank's liquidity and asset/liability positions, hedged and sold the bank's mortgage pipeline and created and implemented various investments, new products and funding strategies. He also analyzed and implemented several acquisitions for the bank. He previously served in a similar capacity for Farm Credit Bank of St. Louis where he managed the bank's investment portfolio. Mr. Merlo started his career at First Federal Savings & Loan of Southeast Missouri, where he was an Investment Portfolio and Treasury Operations Manager.

Mr. Merlo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Missouri.