Regulatory Compliance

Matt Ondus is the Chief Compliance Officer for BHG Financial.

He oversees the compliance, regulatory, and legal teams that maintain the day-to-day operations, focusing on managing consumer protection, financial service, and federal and state banking laws.

An expert in consumer protection laws and regulations, Mr. Ondus has 38 years of senior-level financial regulatory experience working in the public and private sectors.

Before BHG, Mr. Ondus was a commissioned national bank examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of Currency. He also worked for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the examiner in charge of overseeing two of the largest banks in the country. He then moved to the private sector as a director for Promontory Financial Group.

He is a member of the Alabama State Bar, holding his Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law.

Gale Simons-Poole is the Chief Risk Officer for BHG Financial.

She is in charge of safeguarding BHG Financial’s interests and reputation by effectively managing and mitigating its business risk. Ms. Simons-Poole moved into this position from her role as Chief Regulatory Relations Officer where she oversaw regulatory and compliance matters for the organization.  

Prior to BHG, Ms. Simons-Poole spent 25 years at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As their deputy regional director for risk management supervision, she oversaw 300 examiners across seven states, leading their risk management exam program for the southeast United States. During her time with the FDIC, she also completed Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government Federal Executive Leadership Program and the FDIC’s Women's Executive Leadership Program.

After departing the FDIC, she joined Promontory Financial Group as a director. She worked with many financial service clients, from large money center banks to fintechs, giving her insight into the challenges of managing business risk, evolving technology, and adapting business strategies.

John Henrie is the Chief Regulatory Relations Officer for BHG Financial.

He plays a central role in navigating all regulatory matters, including reviews from various federal and state authorities. He also supports enterprise risk management programs and reporting.

Mr. Henrie joined BHG Financial in 2022 as senior vice president, regulatory relations officer, overseeing all business practices and ensuring regulations are properly understood and satisfactorily met.

Before BHG Financial, he spent more than 34 years with the FDIC, most recently serving as regional director of FDIC’s Atlanta Region, handling every aspect of the FDIC’s supervisory activities. This role included managing risk management and compliance programs, overseeing regulatory applications and notices, and coordinating informal and formal corrective programs for financial institutions with assets of up to 500 billion dollars. He also led bank regulators and banking industry efforts to identify and respond to emerging, complex banking matters, including challenges arising during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edward Just is the Senior Director of Risk Management and Fair Lending Officer for BHG Financial.

He oversees operational risk management activities and heads up the management and execution of fair lending practices, ensuring there is full compliance with federal and state regulations. 

He is also in charge of BHG Financial's proprietary fair lending model, which quantifies fair lending risk using the output to direct the organization's fair lending program. Additionally, Mr. Just holds the role of director of Risk Management Solutions Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHG Financial. He evaluates products and practices to determine and develop solutions to mitigate compliance risk, both for the firm and the BHG Financial Institutional Network banks. 

Before joining BHG, he worked for several years for US Bank in New York City and Washington, DC.

Edward graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor's in Arts and Sciences.

Bryan Holloway is the Director of Financial Crime and BSA Officer for BHG Financial.

Mr. Holloway oversees the execution of the organization's deterrence and reporting of financial crimes, Know Your Business (KYB), and Know Your Customer (KYC) assurance investigation teams. He coordinates with fraud management and strategy groups to maintain synergy within the fraud and financial crimes ecosystem.

He authors policies and programs designed to review, evaluate, and check loan applications associated with potentially illegal or suspicious activity. He also engages in logical and fact-based decision-making critical to the bank's responsibility under the BSA.

Before joining BHG Financial, Mr. Holloway was a strategic investigator at PayPal and Western Union, resolving various high-level crimes.

Mr. Holloway volunteers with individuals suffering from alcohol addiction. He holds a bachelor's in criminal justice from Madonna University and a CAMS certification from the Association of Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialists.