Leadership Team

Anthony N. Leo has served as Chief Executive Officer of BayFirst Financial Corp. since 2013. Mr. Leo previously served as Executive Vice President & Managing Director of Community Banks, Inc., a diversified financial holding company based in Harrisburg, PA. He began his career as Vice President & Associate Counsel for the National Bank of Washington, D.C., and later was Vice President & Corporate Counsel for FB&T Corporation, Hanover, PA. Mr. Leo received his BA with distinction from The George Washington University and his JD from The George Washington University Law School. He is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland.

Robin L. Oliver serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for BayFirst and BayFirst Financial Corp. Prior to joining BayFirst in 2018, Mrs. Oliver served as Controller for a financial institution in Kentucky, and for the first 16 years of her career, she served multiple financial institution clients in public accounting as an auditor with Crowe LLP. Mrs. Oliver is a Certified Public Accountant and received her BA in Accounting from the University of Kentucky.

Brandi N. Jaber serves as the EVP, Chief Production Officer for BayFirst. Ms. Jaber joined the Bank in November, 2017 and most recently served as the Chief Administrative Officer. Prior to joining BayFirst, Ms. Jaber spent over 17 years in various management roles in the residential mortgage industry. She has served as an executive team member for the past 2 years, leading numerous cross-functional initiatives. Ms. Jaber holds a BS in Finance from the University of Florida and an MBA from the University of Tampa.

Lewis Benner serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. Mr. Benner joined BayFirst in 2018 and previous to joining BayFirst, Mr. Benner served in leadership roles from multiple financial institutions. Mr. Benner’s experience includes serving as President and CEO of 1st Manatee Bank, EVP and Chief Lending Officer of Sabal Palm Bank, Community Bank President of Gold Bank, and President of Lancaster Region for Lebanon Valley National Bank/Fulton. Mr. Benner received his BA in Business Administration from Elizabethtown College.

Thomas G. Zernick is the President of BayFirst. Prior to joining BayFirst in 2016, Mr. Zernick served as Florida Market President for Stearns Bank, and as an SBA Product Manager for HomeBanc in Tampa. Before relocating to Florida, Mr. Zernick served as a Community Bank President and SBA President for Republic Bank in Michigan. Mr. Zernick received his BBA from the University of Notre Dame.

John Macaluso serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of BayFirst National Bank. Mr. Macaluso joined BayFirst in the fall of 2020 with 37 years of experience in information technology having served as Senior Vice President, Product and Market Strategy and Chief Technology Officer for Fiserv, Inc., Director of Information Systems for New York Yankees, and Vice President, Emerging Technologies for Kforce.com. Mr. Macaluso received his B.A. in Business Administration from the University of South Florida.