Kris Karnes

In her role as Senior Director of Business Owner Advisory Services, Kris employs her extensive experience in counseling clients through complex transactions, combined with a dedication to client success, to offer advisory services to owners considering a business transition or sale. She assesses the current situation, discusses end goals and helps owners maneuver through the emotions and finances of selling or transitioning a business.

Credentials

Kris previously worked as a staff attorney at FNBO, using her skills and expertise to assist with mergers and acquisitions and offering general legal, corporate governance and regulatory support, before working as a Partner and later as Of Counsel at Kutak Rock LLP law firm where she represented financial institutions and corporate entities, specializing in general corporate governance, transactional, regulatory, and merger and acquisition work. She recently returned to FNBO, taking her current role in advisory services. Kris has also assisted students in their pursuit of higher education as a visiting professor at Creighton Law School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University of Nebraska at Lincoln, as well as a Juris Doctor degree from Creighton Law School. She is a member of the Nebraska and Omaha Bar Associations and is a Certified Exit Planner (CExP®).

Passions

Kris extends her desire to help others into her personal life where she lends time to various community organizations and non-profit positions. She is a director on the Westside Community Schools Board of Education, Chair for the Omaha Airport Authority Board of Directors and a board member for the Scottish Rite Foundation. Despite her busy schedule, she prioritizes making time for her family and enjoys reading and traveling.