Buddy has more than 30 years of experience as a valuation and financial analyst. In addition to his work with High Rock Partners, Inc., he owns Equity Research Services, Inc. (www.equityresearchservices.com), a contract equity research, investor relations, and business valuation firm that was started in 1989. He also publishes financial reports on approximately 15 publicly traded companies, principally in the banking sector.

He has completed more than 200 valuations assignments, covering a wide variety of industries, and has served as an expert witness in the area of business valuation approximately 30 times. Mr. Howard has also been a financial adviser to many community banks and has, on multiple occasions, been listed in U.S. Banker as one of the 50 largest merger and acquisition advisors in the nation, based on transaction volume.

Buddy obtained his undergrad degree from Wake Forest University and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He has achieved his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute and his Accredited Senior Appraiser designation (ASA) from the American Society of Appraisers. He has held a Series 7 (General Securities), Series 24 (General Securities Principal), and Series 86/87 (Research Analyst) licenses.