Our Team

Below you will find RLR’s team of professionals. Click on the links for the individual’s complete bio.

Executive Team

Ruth L. Razook, Founder & CEO
In 1988, she founded RLR to serve community banks primarily in the southern California region. RLR is now a nationwide consulting firm focused on providing high quality consulting assistance to financial institutions in the areas of corporate strategy, organizational analysis, operations and project management, information technology and payments. Ruth has conducted engagements for RLR’s clients for more than 25 years including over 50 start-up banks. She has managed SOX engagements, the relocation of a data center from northern California to southern California and a multitude of other projects. Ruth works closely with Bank management teams and Board of Directors. Ruth is also a frequent speaker at state and national banking and related technology conferences, annually facilitates regulatory panels, regularly conducts webinars on a variety of banking topics and is an advisor to certain banking industry associations. (Detail)

Mitch Razook, President & COO
Mitch Razook has over 35 years of consulting, banking, and information technology experience. His areas of expertise include retail banking, operations, payment systems and information technology. Mitch has worked with several financial services clients in the areas of strategic and technology transformation, corporate strategy, cost containment, operational effectiveness and project management.  (Detail)

Thomas L. Frale Jr. , Director of Business Development
Tom has nearly 25 years of Treasury Management experience. His areas of specialty include product strategy and development, sales training and execution, marketing, operations, vendor reviews and evaluation, relationship management and channel development across all market segments. He has given numerous speeches to regional and national banking organizations on subjects ranging from Check 21 and HIPAA compliance to relationship management. He is also adept at building new product costing models, streamlining operations and leveraging technology to maximize profitability and drive down expense. (Detail)

Administrative Team

Jim Scott, Office Administrator
Jim Scott brings over 25 years of business administration and management to RLR.  Having begun his career in restaurant management Jim soon moved to legal services where he worked as the manager for a downtown Los Angeles law firm.  There his responsibilities included the oversight of all support staff, client relations, payroll, Superior Court liaison and I.T. development. (Detail)

Jami Sanders, Finance & Accounting Administrator 
Jami Sanders has over 25 years of accounting and administration experience. She oversees all aspects of RLR’s accounting activities including Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll and Financial Reporting and prides herself on her accuracy and attention to detail. Her strengths include strong customer service, vendor and employee relations, providing accurate and timely financials, and coordinating with tax return preparers. (Detail)

Denise Bahs, Social Media Strategist and Marketing Specialist 
Denise Bahs is a Social Media Strategist and Marketing Specialist. Her background is in marketing, with more than 20 years in the payments industry. After working for a trade association for 8 years, she left to work with technology start-ups utilizing social media to move the needle. Witnessing firsthand how to leverage social media and grow social authority, Denise has helped numerous companies gain visibility and grow their businesses utilizing the social channels. (Detail)

Consulting Team

Benjamin E. Loveless, Senior Associate Consultant
Ben Loveless is a lead consultant with over 35 years of experience in financial institution management, Project Management, item processing and consulting. He has participated in financial institution consulting engagements throughout the western US in technology, operations and internet banking.  Ben’s experience in the financial industry includes executive management, operations, IT and internet banking management for a $1.2 billion southern California bank, manager/owner of an item processing service bureau, senior bank management positions with full bottom line responsibility and management of electronic banking functions. (Detail)

Chris Manning, Director of Information Systems Consulting
Chris Manning has over 30 years of experience in the financial industry. He is also a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA certification). His experience includes 15 years in IT Management for a $3.5 billion bank and over 15 years as a consultant. Chris has managed a wide variety of IT related projects for financial institutions and specializes in IT compliance. (Detail)

Craig Lorman, Senior Associate Consultant
Craig Lorman, a Senior Associate Consultant of RLR Management Consulting, Inc., is a lead consultant with over 30 years of experience, financial services, project management, item processing and consulting. For the past eighteen years, Craig Lorman has helped banks and credit unions successfully carry out their complex technology initiatives. His range of consulting experience includes project planning, data conversions and assisting de novo banks in setting up banking operations. In the role of manager for IT operations at several banks, he has provided direction for numerous mergers and acquisitions. He has overseen conversions to various core processing systems as well as assisted with the switch from in-house to outsourced core processing. (Detail)

Diana Strade, Senior Associate Consultant
Diana Strade has over 30 years in the banking industry including bank operations and project management. Her experience includes management of support services for a $2 billion California community bank, and various management positions in a large national bank.  She has expertise in retail branch banking, support services including lending and operations, training, and compliance programs with strengths in policy and procedure development, internal controls, and operational efficiency. (Detail)

Dina Matias, Senior Associate Consultant
Dina Matias, a Senior Associate Consultant with RLR Management Consulting, has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry. She has lead financial institutions in Operations, Risk Management, Electronic Banking and Compliance. Her most recent experience in the financial industry includes management of all aspects of Operations and Electronic Banking for a $4 billion southern California Bank, and management of the Electronic Banking Department and Call Center for a $20 billion southern California Bank.(Detail)

Donna Teague, Senior Associate Consultant
Donna Teague, a Senior Associate Consultant at RLR Management Consulting, Inc., has over 20 years of experience in financial institution management and consulting including leadership and best practices development, driving organizational change and process improvement in growing organizations. (Detail)

Lynsey Bloch, Senior Consultant
Lynsey Bloch has over 15 years’ experience in the retail banking industry.  Her experience encompasses all aspects of bank operations including both front and back office functions, internal management positions, IT project management, vendor contract negotiation and interface, lending, operations, and compliance.  Lynsey was responsible for IT management for a California community bank that grew from three branches to seven across multiple States in less than 5 years.  Her 15 years of FISERV Premier experience includes implementations, conversions, policy and procedure development, internal controls, user support, education and training facilitator, and continuous process improvement of operational efficiencies. (Detail)

Monica Eppler, Senior Associate Consultant
Monica Eppler is a seasoned professional in the financial industry with over 25 years of experience. She has worked in California in data and systems integration, information technology, loan and accounting operations. This includes 6 years as a data and systems integration project manager, 15 years as a loan operations manager and 4 years as an accounting supervisor. Employed by both small and large community banks, she has held a wide range of experience in accounting and loan operations, information systems, and project management. (Detail)

Nancy Cook, Senior Associate Consultant
Nancy Cook has over 30 years of experience in management for financial institutions. She has managed projects for mergers/acquisitions, internet banking, product development, cash management systems conversions and documentation reviews. Nancy’s experience in the financial industry includes merger/integration project management, operational management and treasury services management for two of the top five banks in the country as well as community and de novo institutions in California. Her expertise is in project management, treasury/cash management, product development, and operations efficiency, where she has managed numerous projects from $5 million to $20 billion, with project teams of up to 135 people. (Detail)

Neva McCormick, Senior Associate Consultant
Neva McCormick has over 24 years’ experience in the financial industry in key roles including SVP, CFO, Controller, IT Manager and Operations Manager. She has comprehensive experience in financial and managerial accounting, budgeting, financial reporting and analysis, contract negotiation and oversight, IT management, project management and strategic planning. (Detail)

Robert Sommerfeld, Senior Associate Consultant
Robert S. Sommerfeld, a Senior Associate Consultant of RLR, has over 20 years of experience in management, banking and loan servicing. His knowledge includes commercial and retail loan support, mergers and acquisitions, as well as project management support and consultation. He has extensive knowledge and experience with implementation of processes, and compliance in support of Mortgage Reform, Truth in Lending, UDAAP, CFPB, Customer Complaint Processing, and Reg Z. (Detail)

Susan Roling, Senior Associate Consultant
Susan Roling has over 20 years of experience in both the retail and regulatory banking sectors. Her knowledge includes both operations and credit roles and includes system implementations and conversions, policy and procedure development, internal control creation, strategic marketing initiatives, system design, training and user support, project management and workflow process improvement. (Detail)

Valerie McCune, Senior Associate Consultant
Val McCune has over 30 years of experience in banking operations and project management. She specializes in all aspects of bank operations and has played a key role in several RFP, conversion and merger/acquisition projects.(Detail)