Management Team

Mark A. Medford President/CEO

Before coming to Vining Sparks, Mark was President and CEO of FTN Financial which is a division of First Tennessee Bank, N.A. Mr. Medford served in Public Accounting and Consulting from 1984 until 2001. He was Memphis’s Managing Partner, National REIT Leader, and National Bank and Thrift Tax Leader and served on the Southeast’s Merger and Acquisition Team and on the National Securitization Team, all with KPMG, LLP. Mr. Medford serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Regional Bond Dealers Association. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. He attended the University of Mississippi and graduated with a Masters of Accountancy degree. He also holds CPA and AICPA accreditations.

James L. Vining Chairman Emeritus

Jim is a former officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. As Executive Vice President of Union Planters National Bank in Memphis, Tennessee, Jim managed their investment portfolio and developed the first microcomputer based Asset/Liability and Bond Swap Models. Since founding Vining Sparks in 1981, he has served on the faculties of five schools of banking and has spoken at hundreds of banking sessions on the subjects of investments and investment planning. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University in Industrial Engineering, and has been inducted into OSU’s Engineering Hall of Fame. He completed a M.S. in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech. He is a Trustee of the Oklahoma State University Foundation. Jim taught Operations Research at Georgia Tech for three years.

Peter G. Colin EVP Director of Information Technology & Services

Prior to joining Vining Sparks, Pete held technology management positions with Control Data, Union Planters, Warrington and Great Western Financial. At Vining Sparks, he manages the firm's information technologies and services, emphasizing state-of-the-art fixed income analytics. Pete is the author of numerous articles and research papers on fixed income automation. He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Swarthmore College.

John T. Crawford, Jr., CFA EVP of Strategic Products and Services

John joined Vining Sparks in August 2008 and is responsible for developing and directing business lines that will further enhance the value we bring to our customers. His responsibilities include interest rate derivatives, which is offered through Vining Sparks Interest Products, LLC (www.vsirp.com), and Loan Trading. He has over 25 years experience with financial services companies, including positions as Executive Managing Director / Head of Investment Banking at FTN Midwest Securities from 2004 – 2008, EVP / Treasurer of Union Planters Corporation from 2000 – 2004, and various financial and treasury positions over fifteen years with Bank One Corporation. John graduated from Texas Tech University in 1983 with a BBA in Finance and a BBA in Accounting. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Mark Evans, CFA EVP Director of Investment Strategies

Mark has been with Vining Sparks since 1994 and is currently Director of Investment Strategies, a group that provides research and technical assistance to the firm’s customers and sales representatives. Mark has written research reports and developed models for fixed income securities, portfolio management, leveraging strategies, accounting, and regulatory issues. He has written articles for numerous trade publications and serves on the editorial board of Bank Asset/Liability Management. Mark earned his B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Memphis and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Larry Levingston EVP,CFO

Larry has been with Vining Sparks since its inception in 1981. Prior to that he was with the Comptroller of the Currency, Eighth National Bank Region, as a national bank trust department examiner and with the tax department of Cook International, Inc. as a tax manager. He earned a B.A. degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Alabama and a B.A. degree in Accounting from Delta State University.

Francis J. Scott EVP Director of Trading

Fran is the Head Trader at Vining-Sparks IBG and is responsible for all trading activities. He has served as a member of the Public Securities Association Mortgage Securities Regional/Primary Dealers Committee. He has appeared as an expert witness before various US Government Agencies and is recognized as a securities expert by numerous federal, district and local courts. Fran holds a B.A. degree from Temple University.

Martin F. Shea, Jr. EVP General Counsel/Business Development

Prior to joining Vining Sparks in August 2008, Martin served for six years as EVP General Counsel/Chief Risk Officer of FTN Financial which is a division of First Tennessee Bank. From 1997 until 2003 Martin worked in private practice, most recently with Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, focusing on corporate and securities work. Martin earned a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Randy Wade, CPA, CFA EVP Director of Sales

Randy began his career with KPMG Peat Marwick where he provided accounting and audit services to banks, broker-dealers and savings and loan institutions. After that, he served as Manager of the Portfolio Strategies Department which provides research and technical support for Vining Sparks. Currently, he is Director of Sales and serves as a frequent speaker for industry seminars and has authored numerous articles for trade magazines. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Abilene Christian University.