Instructors - 2011

Bios of Current Instructors

 

 

Allan Barros

Allan J. Barros, ARA, has been specifically educated in the appraisal of agricultural properties and has worked throughout the State of California as well as parts of Utah. He graduated from California State University, Fresno in 1985 and went to work for the Federal Land Bank Association of Visalia. He currently works for Fresno Madera Farm Credit, as well as Edwards and Lien in Hilmar California. He is experienced in the appraisal of agricultural properties that range from simple irrigated farmland to large dairy facilities and cold storage complexes. He has more than 20 years of appraisal experience.  

Allan has been awarded the professional designation of Accredited Rural Appraiser (ARA), the highest rank and the only title conferred on rural appraisers, by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. He is currently certified by the State of California as a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, Certificate Number AG003540. He has taught appraisal related classes and seminars in the United States and Mexico for more than 15 years. He is currently chairman for the Land Value Survey, a nationwide publication which is sent out annually by the California Chapter of the American Society of Farm and Rural Appraisers. He and his wife Karen are the parents of seven children and currently reside in Madera, California.

Hal Bolen

Born in Winchester, Virginia, Hal Bolen and his family moved out West, where he eventually attended California State University, Fresno. There, Hal was awarded Bachelors of Arts and Science in Economics and Accounting degrees in 1971 and a Masters in Business Administration in 1973. Hal worked as an accountant during his college years, and upon graduation chose to attend law school at the University of California, Davis, where he served on the Moot Court Board and wrote for and served as co-managing editor of the Law Review. Hal graduated and was admitted to the California Bar in 1976 and returned to Fresno to enter private practice with one of its oldest and largest local firms. In 1986, Hal accepted the position of regional counsel for The Prudential Insurance Company of America's Agricultural Realty Group in Sacramento, serving as the principal attorney in an office whose territory included the eleven western states. When Prudential's management decided that agricultural lawyers should be relocated to company headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, Hal chose instead to return to Fresno to co-found Bolen, Fransen & Russell LLP along with Ken Fransen and former partner Donna Boostrom. 
 
Hal's practice focuses on real estate, finance, corporate, taxation and general business. He has taught Business Organizations and Real Property at California State University, Fresno and San Joaquin College of Law and lectures on a variety of subjects frequently.  Finding it difficult to ever say no, Hal has had the privilege of serving on several State Bar committees including acting as Co-Chair of the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission in the years of its formation and following. He has and continues to serve on community Boards and organizations such as The Fresno Business Council, Operation Clean Air Steering Committee and Business Council Air Quality Task Force, Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, The Fresno Metropolitan Museum, The Lively Arts Foundation, The Ag Lenders Society of California, AgOne Foundation, Fresno Coalition for Art, Science and History, Arts to Zoo Campaign, Fresno County Bar Association Board of Directors and Fresno County Young. Lawyers Association. Hal is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of Fresno Rotary. Should he ever retire from his practice, Hal would likely pursue a second career as rock musician, stage actor or professional soccer player.

Curt Covington

Curt Covington is a Senior Vice President and Credit Risk Manager for the Ag and Rural Banking Division - Bank of the West in Fresno, California. Curt has 28 years of agricultural banking experience and is responsible for managing the risk of a $3.2 billion agriculture/agribusiness loan portfolio.  Curt was born and raised in Selma, California. He earned his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Southern California and his Masters in Agribusiness from Santa Clara University.  Since 1984, Curt has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Agricultural Economics at California State University, Fresno, teaching managerial accounting and finance classes. Prior to coming to Bank of the West, Curt spent a good part of his early banking career in the Farm Credit system followed by a period as a credit administrator with Rabobank.

Dean Duelke

Dean is President of Deannco Financial Enterprises, a consulting firm that designs and provides credit analysis and cash flow training to commercial and agricultural banks and regulatory agencies throughout the country.  He earned his bachelor and MBA degrees (Finance) at UCLA, and is a former Vice President of Bank of America. 

He began his banking career with Bank of America in 1971 following several years of military service, and spent nearly 10 years in commercial lending in the industrial areas of Los Angeles where he gained extensive experience, especially in agri-business and asset-based lending.  In his last two years with the bank, he taught the bank’s advanced commercial lending class throughout all of California.

Dean has over 30 years of consulting, curriculum design and teaching experience. He has provided training for a multitude of commercial banks, bankers and regulatory agencies.  His presentations address topics like credit cultures, credit policies, financial analysis, lending strategies, loan structuring, but he is most known for his passion and understanding of cash flow and his innovative “Funnel Concept”.  He has also created the cash-flow oriented sustainable growth formula, developed the principles of trading capital (a simplified view of the equity found in current assets), and originated the unique profitability-liquidity interrelationship.  

In the early 2000s, he was contracted to designed and teach the Advanced Commercial Credit Analysis class for a consortium of federal regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C., where he still continues to be major speaker at the FFIEC’s Community Lending Forum conferences. He has been a faculty member of Pacific Coast Banking School (PCBS) at the University of Washington since 1983 and is a founding faculty member of the Agricultural Lending Institute (ALI) program at California State University, Fresno.

Robert Finkbohner

Senior Regional Credit Officer, Rabobank, N.A. located in Roseville. Charged with overseeing the agricultural loan portfolio for Rabobank in California. Rabobank is the 3rd largest agricultural bank in the United States, and a recognized global leader in the financing of producers and processors of food and fiber. 

Total experience of 34 years in banking, with a focus on agricultural production and agribusiness lending. Areas of activity have included the Central Valley of California, Idaho, and western Washington. B.S. in Soil Science from Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo (1977) and an MBA From Sacramento State University (1991).

Dave Hague

Dave is a senior credit administrator-team leader for agricultural lending within Bank of the West.  He has been involved in agricultural lending since graduation from the Ohio State University in 1974.  Dave started his career in New Jersey as a loan officer and served in various capacities with Farm Credit Associations in New England and New York through 1988.  In 1984 he became president and CEO of an association.  In 1989 Dave moved to California and started working for Farm Credit in southern California where he became chief credit officer.  After more than 20 years with Farm Credit, he joined Sanwa Bank Credit Administration Department in 1995 to work primarily on the agricultural loan portfolio.  Bank of the West acquired United California Bank (formerly Sanwa Bank) in 2002 and his responsibilities were expanded to team leader.  Hague attended the University of Washington Pacific Coast Banking School 1994-1996.  He spent four years in the Air Force prior to completing college work.

Clive Humphrey

Clive has been a Director and Shareholder of Financial Projections Limited since 1988.  He has 11 years experience of delivering credit and risk management training to bankers around the world.  Clive’s banking career began in London, England in 1979 with ABN Bank (now ABN Amro) as a Credit Analyst.  Following some time as a Relationship Manager and Team Leader he became Manager of the Corporate Banking Department and then moved to Birmingham, England where he was appointed manager of ABN’s branch operation.  In 1990 Clive joined Royal Trust Bank to establish a new operation in Birmingham.  Over the next five years he was responsible for four other regional offices, was part of the Bank’s Real Estate Development and Investment lending operation and finally was involved in recoveries and workouts as Director, Special Accounts.  In 1992 Clive earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Birmingham, England.  He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.  After 16 years of banking experience Clive joined Financial Projections as a trainer.  Since then he has worked with participants at all levels of experience from Graduate Trainees to Senior Management. The participants on his workshops have represented many different areas of banking including Relationship Management, Risk Management, Treasury and Derivative Sales, Legal Counsel, Internal Audit and Operations Management.  Clive has been a speaker at the Global Credit Conference of a major AAA rated, international bank.  

Keith Leggett

Dr. Keith Leggett is vice president and senior economist at the American Bankers Association.  Prior to joining the ABA, Dr. Leggett was an Associate Professor of Economics at Davis & Elkins College.  He also was on the faculty of Penn State University.  Dr. Leggett’s responsibilities at the ABA include analyzing the structure and performance of the banking industry; evaluating competitive threats posed by other financial services providers; monitoring conditions in the macroeconomy and in the credit markets. Additionally, Keith Leggett received his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in economics and undergraduate degree from Mars Hill College.  He has published research in Journal of Agricultural Lending, ABA Banking Journal, The Cato Journal, Journal of Economics and Finance, Financial Services Review, Review of Financial Economics as well as other journals. 

Roy Martin

Roy has been exposed to agricultural all of his life.  Growing up in Selma, California and working the fields as a youngster failed to deter his interest in agricultural.  He was an FFA officer three years in high school finishing as president.  After completion of Reedley College he took some time off to visit Australia.  Upon return from Australia he enrolled in California State University Fresno only to be sent to Oregon to work on an internship at a 12,000-cow cattle ranch.  Graduating in 1978 with a degree in Animal Science, Roy landed a job on a fig ranch in Madera County.  In 1979 his financial career took root with an ag field representative position at Crocker National Bank in Fresno.  From 1986 to 1999 Roy was involved in agricultural real estate lending, being self employed the last six years.  Over the years Roy has experienced agricultural lending or fieldwork in most of the Western United States.  Currently he is Vice President and Manager of the Agricultural Field Office for Bank of the West in Fresno, California.  He is a member and is a past president of the Ag Lenders Society of California as well as a member of the Ag Advisory Committee for Reedley College.  Roy currently resides in Clovis, California and is married to Marian.

Robert A. Matlick

Mr. Matlick has served the Agricultural Lending Industry for nearly 30 years.  After getting his honors degree at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo in 1978, he started his career at the Bank of America in Los Angeles as a loan officer, where he managed a dairy credit portfolio with average outstanding of $ 20,000,000.  He then worked at the Chino branch of Bank of America as the VP & Portfolio Manager managing a dairy credit loan unit till 1986.  Since 1986, he has been working with the firm of Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer and Torbet, LLP.  Mr. Matlick was a Manager for the first 5 years, and a Partner thereafter.  His experiences encompass undertaking a wide variety of responsibilities including advising clients in financial management and business analysis of agricultural operations throughout the United States.  He has extensive experience in handling distressed credit and bankruptcy circumstances.  He has been responsible for assisting clients in obtaining approximately $ 100,000,000 in credit facilities and negotiating approximately 20 large buy/sell transactions for real and personal property.   

He has also served as a consultant to credit institutions to evaluate and develop agricultural lending policy and independent evaluation of large credit requests.  He has further served as a Lecturer to agricultural industry professionals regarding financial structure and analysis of agricultural entities.  Finally, he has also been providing litigation support and expert witness testimony.  Professional Memberships have included Executive Committee of MSWFT, Alpha Zeta Honorary Agricultural Fraternity, California Ag Lenders Society, Past President of West Valley Escrow, Inc. – Chino, California, and Past officer of Inland Exchange, Inc.

Bruce Nelson
Bruce is currently serving with Bank of the West as SVP and Manager of the Agricultural Managed Asset Department. Managed Assets is a division within the Credit Risk Management area of the Bank responsible for maximizing the capital of the Bank by reducing the Bank’s exposure to non-performing and/or adversely graded assets. The department specializes in maximizing cash collections, asset sales and developing work-out strategies that will allow for the rehabilitation and return of viable credits to a performing status.
 

Prior to joining Bank of the West Bruce was with Rabobank, N.A. where he served as the Director of Special Assets Management. During his tenure with Rabobank, Bruce was a permanent member of the bank’s Credit Committee, Acquisition Team and Risk Management Committee. Bruce also served for a period of time with Midwest based Rabo AgriFinance, which specializes in financing agricultural real estate and providing production financing to a national portfolio of Agricultural clients.

Gary Sawyers

Mr. Sawyers is the founding partner of Sawyers & Holland, LLP in Fresno, California.  He received his bachelor's degree (summa cum laude) from the University of California, San Diego in 1977 and attended the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1980.  Mr. Sawyers' practice is devoted principally to water law and related matters, as well as agricultural law and farm program compliance.  Mr. Sawyers represents public and private agencies engaged in the administration and delivery of water to over two million acres in the San Joaquin Valley of California, as well as private farming interests and agricultural lenders throughout the State.

Seaver Sowers

Seaver Sowers joined the American Bankers Association as Senior Federal Legislative Representative in July of 2003.  In this capacity, Seaver serves as ABA’s point person on Capitol Hill for agricultural and rural banking issues.  Prior to joining ABA, Seaver served as Director of Legislative Policy for the Agricultural Retailers Association and as Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO).  Seaver spent more than 6.5 years on Capitol Hill working for Representative Emerson and former U.S. Representative Bill Emerson (R-MO).  Seaver is a native of Rolla, Missouri, and a graduate of Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Drew Theophilus

Drew Theophilus is a partner at Baird Holm LLP and a member of its Financial Transactions Section. His practice areas include agricultural/agribusiness finance, commercial finance, title insurance and general real estate. He represents banks and institutional lenders in all aspects of financial transactions, including the analysis of issues related to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9.  His focus also includes structuring, negotiating and documenting loan and financial transactions as well as analyzing any related title insurance or due diligence issues.  Mr. Theophilus is licensed to practice in both California and Nebraska.

In 2001, Mr. Theophilus received a Juris Doctor, with distinction, from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. He received a Bachelor of Science in Economics, magna cum laude, from Baker University in 1998.

Mr. Theophilus is a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, Commercial Financial Services Committee, and the current Vice Chairperson for the Subcommittee on Agricultural and Agri-Business Finance.

Steve Turner

Steven C. Turner is a partner in the firm of Baird, Holm, McEachen, Pedersen, Hamann & Strasheim. Mr. Turner received his undergraduate degree from Indiana State University in 1972 and a master's degree from the same institution in 1973. Mr. Turner received his law degree with honors from Creighton University School of Law, Omaha, Nebraska, in 1976. Mr. Turner was an adjunct professor of law at the Creighton University School of Law, teaching bankruptcy and reorganization, for the years 1985 to 1990. 

Mr. Turner is a member of the American Bar Association, the Nebraska Bar Association, and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a former director of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the former chair of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Mr. Turner is a member of the American Bar Association Uniform Commercial Code Committee, the Business Bankruptcy Committee, and the Commercial Financial Services Committee. He served as chair of the Commercial Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Agricultural and Agribusiness Finance from 1988-1994. Mr. Turner is a fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. Mr. Turner's practice areas include commercial law, letters of credit, banking, loan and financing transactions, bankruptcy and workouts.

Riley Walter, Esq.

Riley Walter has specialized in insolvency matters since 1980. Mr. Walter specializes in Chapter 11 reorganization cases representing debtors. He has handled all types of cases from large farms, wineries, canneries, developers, retail businesses, hospitals to gold mines. Mr. Walter has also authored numerous articles on insolvency and bankruptcy and is a frequent speaker to business, legal, agricultural and financial groups, including recent presentations at the National Conference of the Bankruptcy Judges, Farmers and Ranchers Tax Conference and Central California Bankruptcy Institute.    

He is a Certified Business Bankruptcy Specialist accredited by the American Board of Bankruptcy Certification and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Class XIII. He has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer from 2004 through 2010. 

Mr. Walter is a past President of the Central California Bankruptcy Association; past President of the San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, past Director of the California Bankruptcy Forum and California Receiver’s Forum, past Chair of the Business Law and Agricultural Law Sections of the Fresno County Bar Association, and past Co-Chair of the Agribusiness Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar. He was a lawyer representative of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference from 2007 to 2009 and past chair of the Eastern District Conference Committee. 

Mr. Walter’s passion for serving his community is evident through his active involvement in civic and social organizations. He is a founding board member of the Central Valley Business Incubator and currently serves as vice chair for the Lyles Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In addition, he has been a trustee of several cultural, arts and historical groups. In his spare time he reads, studies Native American anthropology and enjoys adventure travel.

Grady Woolsey

Mr. Woolsey is employed by Bank of the West in the Agricultural Field Office. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, with a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy. He has an extensive knowledge of agriculture, having been involved in all areas research, sales, operations, management and lending, as it relates to his current position with the Agricultural Field Office department's operations. He has a California PCA License #07321, which allows him to consult with growers regarding use of pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides.  

He has had experience in the planning, development and negotiation of sales and marketing agreements, general multiple peril crop insurance underwriting and loss adjustment. Mr. Woolsey has a State of California Insurance License and is qualified as a fire and casualty broker-agent, allowing him to sell crop insurance. He is a member of the Ag Lenders Society, the California Farm Bureau, and the California Agricultural Production Consultants Association (CAPCA).