Built on a century of combined expertise

Kristie began her career as a stockbroker in 1980 with Shearson American Express in Iowa. She went on to found American Finance Inc., a prominent commercial finance company she managed for over 16 years, providing capital for hundreds of commercial projects.

She served as Market President and Regional President at two publicly traded banks before launching Bender-Carey Consulting in 2018. Kristie has earned SECRET Clearance status with the U.S. Government.

She has served on the Board of Directors for the Southern Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce and the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo committee, and currently sits on the board of E3s|End To End Solutions. She is a member of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Businesswomen, National Association of Women in Construction, Realtors Commercial and Industrial Society, and Pikes Peak Association of Realtors.

Kristie volunteers as a certified family investigator for CASA of the Pikes Peak Region and has been featured in the Business Journal's "One-on-One" and Style Magazine's "People to Know." She was honored as "Women of Influence" by the Colorado Springs Business Journal and named to the Top 10 Women Leaders in Finance 2022.

Mark brings over 25 years of experience in retail, CPG, and fintech. He has served as CEO of both public and private companies, and led Blackhawk Network's growth from a startup into a leading player in prepaid financial services. He significantly expanded InComm's operations, increasing revenue across multiple business lines.

He has secured over $250 million in capital raises across four companies and leverages his expertise as an active advisor to leading prepaid card companies, including KargoCard in Shanghai, China. He collaborates with Private Equity and Venture Capital firms evaluating and investing in tech, retail, CPG, and fintech ventures.

Before his business career, Mark played professional baseball for 11 years with the San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles.

Michael brings 45 years of experience in the construction materials industry. He served as VP of Operations for one of the world's largest publicly traded aggregate producers, and later as President and CEO of a privately held aggregate company in Colorado.

His career includes VP and GM roles at Redlands, CRH, Lafarge, and Martin Marietta. He has managed multiple leveraged buyouts and acquisitions throughout his career.

Major General Bryan served approximately 35 years in the U.S. Army as a Master Parachutist, Ranger, and Special Forces Signal Corps Officer. He served as Commander of a Signal Company in the 7th Special Forces Group, Commander of the 35th Airborne Signal Brigade at XVIII Airborne Corps, and Vice Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency.

He founded the 112th Special Operations Signal Battalion and was the first Commander of Joint Task Force — Computer Network Operations, the predecessor to U.S. Cyber Command.

After military service, he served as Sector VP at Northrop Grumman and President of Mantech International's Defense Systems Group, scaling revenue from $600M+ to over $1B in 18 months. He is a Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors, completed Harvard Business School's program for Corporate Board of Directors, and is founder and senior facilitator of The Leadership Forum.

At Bender-Carey Capital, he aligns promising small and medium-sized companies specializing in IT, AI, network security, cyber security, and space operations with the capital needed for R&D and growth.