Mr. Gaut began his career in asset-based lending at Heller Financial in Dallas, Texas as an auditor in the newly formed healthcare ABL group. In his four years at Heller, Mr. Gaut worked on transactions ranging from $1 million to $10 million in a variety of sectors of the healthcare industry.

Subsequent to Heller, Mr. Gaut spent four years at KPMG-Peat Marwick in the Austin, TX and San Diego, CA offices as a senior auditor and audit manager. At KPMG, Mr. Gaut audited both public and private clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, biotechnology, and software.

Mr. Gaut left KPMG to become the Director of Finance for Genicon Sciences Corporation, a VC-funded San Diego biotechnology start-up that was later purchased by Invitrogen.

Mr. Gaut joined Meridian in November, 2002 as an auditor and underwriter, where he performed audits and financial analysis on new transactions and monitored existing accounts through field audits. In September 2003, Mr. Gaut was named Director of Portfolio Management, where he was responsible for managing account executives and establishing formal procedures for monitoring collateral performance and the financial health of the Providers in the portfolio. In this position, Mr. Gaut was part of a team that successfully passed due diligence, negotiated, and closed Meridian's current $40 million senior credit facility.

In November, 2004, Mr. Gaut was named Director of Underwriting and Audit, where his primary responsibilities are screening new deals, directing the due diligence process for new transactions, and supervising the recurring audit function on existing accounts.

Mr. Gaut received a concurrent bachelors and master's degree in accounting from the University of Texas in 1991. He resides in San Diego, CA with his wife and son. Gaut is CPA, licensed in Texas.