Senior Officers

Business Development Officers

Board of Managers

Founder
Frank S. Goldberg is Chairman and CEO of Briar Capital. He has been involved in the management of financial institutions since 1970. He holds a BA from the University of Texas and an MA from the University of Michigan. After graduate school, he joined American National Bank of Austin.

In 1972, he became an officer of Affiliated Capital Corporation, a public (AMEX) multi Savings and Loan Holding Company located in Houston, where he served until 1981. In 1985, he founded Fondren National Bank (which later became Security Bank). As Chairman and President, he oversaw the growth of the Bank to $85 million in assets and sold it to Compass Bancshares in 1994.

In 1996, he founded CompuBank, which became the first federally chartered electronic bank. Investors included SOFTBANK Finance, GE Capital, Goldman Sachs Group, and Marsh & McLennan. In March 2001, the accounts and customer relationships were sold to NetBank.

Stephen Fisher is Chief Credit Officer of Briar Capital. He works primarily out of the Dallas office but travels to the Houston Office a couple of days each week. He has been involved in financial consulting services to asset-based, factoring and leverage commercial loan situations including real estate since 1986. He holds a BBA and MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Beginning in 1970, he spent 13 years with InterFirst Bank Dallas (now Bank of America) serving in the positions of Senior Vice President and Group Manager for the Asset-Based Lending Group, Senior Vice President Credit Analysis Group and Senior Vice President Special Assets Management. During this time, he also served as a Director of the Commercial Finance Association. From 1984 to 1986, he served as Executive Vice President of a Savings Association in Texas with responsibilities for branch administration, human resources, and marketing.

From 1986 to 1990, he worked as a bank consultant, advising banks on secured loans experiencing difficulty. In 1990, he joined Bank One, Texas to develop an asset-based lending unit serving as Senior Vice President and Department Manager. In 1994, he left Bank One to reestablish an active consulting business which continues at present. He has been associated with Briar Capital since June 2005.

Jeffrey Noland is Briar Capital’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President overseeing business development. He works out of Briar Capital's Dallas Office. He is a senior finance and operations executive, having held increasingly senior roles in real estate development and private equity, investment banking, venture capital, software, consulting, and commercial banking with companies such as Newport Coast Capital Management, Charles River Associates, Siebel Systems, Howard Lawson & Co. (acquired by Fleet M&A Advisors, and PNC Bank. He has also run his own private advisory practice relating to commercial real estate and capital markets. He has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University (Ohio).

In his spare time, he teaches a Wall Street-caliber corporate finance, valuation and financial modeling course to junior investment bankers and private equity analysts through his affiliation with the Investment Banking Institute. He has also served as a damages expert in U.S. Federal Court based on his expertise in finance and business valuation.

Joseph M. Sammons is Senior Vice President Portfolio/Operations Manager at Briar Capital. He has been involved in the banking industry in excess of 25 years, with 15+ years in asset based lending, both in the small/regional community bank environment and the national financial company environment, as well as the large national bank environment in markets from Florida to California. He holds a BS in Business Administration from Salisbury University, CCM Certification (1995-2000), as well as certificates of completion from numerous bank programs.

In 1982, he became an officer of Southeast Bank, servicing middle market companies in Pinellas County, Florida. From 1986 through 1992, he worked as a commercial lending officer servicing companies in North Pinellas, Pasco and Sarasota Counties of Florida. In 1992, he became the North Pinellas County Area Banking Officer for Orange Bank (later AmSouth Bank and now Regions Bank).

Starting in 1995, he focused his career to specific working capital lending in the ABL arena, with positions with a national finance company headquartered in Los Angeles and servicing the entire U.S., with HSBC and with Wells Fargo Business Credit.

Laurie A. Gunn, Senior Underwriter in Briar Capital’s Dallas Office, is a graduate of Baylor University with a BBA and MBA. She attended Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU and subsequently facilitated its bank simulation classes. She has been involved in commercial lending, asset based lending and credit management in the Dallas market since 1980.

In 1980, she began her banking career at InterFirst Bank Dallas (now Bank of America) where she worked in ABL, credit management and middle market commercial lending. In 1986 she joined MBank (now JP Morgan Chase) where she managed the credit training program for commercial lenders and served as a senior lender in the middle market lending and ABL groups. She has been associated with Briar Capital since 2006.

M. Karen Gonzales, Business Manager, attended Seminole Junior College, Seminole, OK and St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee, OK where she majored in Business Administration. After moving to Houston in 1976, she worked 25 years in the Engineering industry including several years as the assistant controller in the corporate offices of an independent oil refinery. From 1982 until 2002, she helped in the startup and management of a firm that developed software for designing oil and gas refineries.

She joined Briar Capital when the company was formed in December 2002. She manages the office operations, accounting systems, computer systems and assists with all the human resources activities of Briar Capital. She is also the Corporate Secretary for the Board of Managers.