Bios of Current Instructors

  

Dennis Boesen

Over 30 years of Commercial Lending experience, with the last 13 years specializing in workout, restructure and bankruptcy situations, including C&I, CRE and Agloans, both bi-lateral and syndicated relationships.

 

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 Senior Vice President of Agricultural Finance with the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (‘Farmer Mac’) in Washington, DC. He is responsible for managing the marketing and credit function of a $14 billion nationwide agricultural loan portfolio. Curt was born and raised in the farming community of Selma, California, where his family farmed grapes and nuts. 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 and Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno, teaching managerial accounting and finance classes.

Prior to joining Farmer Mac, Curt was a Managing Director for the Ag and Rural Banking Division at San Francisco-based Bank of the West for nearly 10 years after having spent a good part of his early banking career in the Farm Credit system followed by a period of time as a credit administrator with Rabobank. He is the past chairman of the American Bankers Association Ag and Rural Bankers Committee in Washington DC and is the present chairman of the RMA Agricultural Bankers Committee. Curt serves as co-chair and manages two agricultural Lender programs: The Agricultural Lending Institute, a joint venture with California State University, Fresno, and, The Agricultural Banking Institute of the Americas, a joint venture with Universidad del Pacifico, in Peru.

 

Robert Finkbohner

Senior Regional Credit Officer, Rabobank, N.A. (RNA). Located in Roseville, he oversees the agricultural loan portfolio for Rabobank in California. RNA is the 2^nd largest Ag lender in California, and part of Rabobank, a recognized global leader in the financing of producers and processors of food and fiber.

He has 37 years in commercial banking, focusing on agricultural and agribusiness lending. Areas of activity have included the Central Valley of California, Idaho, and western Washington. Bob has a B.S. in Soil Science from Cal-Poly, SLO (1977), and an MVA in Finance from Cal State Sacramento (1991).

 

Brent Gloy, Ph.D.

Dr. BrentGloy is an agricultural economist specializing in agricultural finance and agribusiness management. The majority of his research has focused on issues related to the supply and demand for credit and farmland values. His research has been quoted and referenced in media ranging from the farmpress, to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist, among others. Brent founded and served as the first Director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. Dr. Gloy’s current writings can be found on his website Agricultural Economic Insights, www.ageconomists.com which he co-founded with David Widmar. Dr. Gloy has held tenured faculty positions in agricultural economics at Purdue University and Cornell University. He currently operates his family farming operation in Southwest Nebraska, is a partner in Agricultural Economic Insights, LLC, and serves as a visiting professor at Purdue University. Brent received his masters and doctorate degrees in agricultural economics fromPurdue University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dave Hague

Dave is a former senior credit administrator-team leader for agricultural lending at Bank of the West having retired December 2012.  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.  He recently formed Hague Financial LLC and does farm and business consulting.

Jason R. Henderson

Jason R. Henderson is vice president and Omaha Branch executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He joined the Omaha Branch in August 2006 as Branch executive. In this role, he serves as the Bank's regional economist and representative in the state of Nebraska, recruits and works closely with the Branch's board of directors, and is responsible for briefing the Kansas City Fed's president—a member of the Federal Open Market Committee—on economic and business activity in the state. In addition, Jason leads several Bank and Federal Reserve System efforts to track agricultural and rural economies, including the quarterly publication of the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions and the Federal Reserve System's Agricultural Finance Databook. He also manages the Main Street Economist, a bi-monthly publication covering economic issues affecting rural areas.

Jason serves as the Bank's regional research coordinator. His research interests include rural development, agricultural economics and industrial organization. He has published more than 60 research articles in Bank and external research publications on topics such as entrepreneurship, land values, demographics, the growth of knowledge-based activity in rural America, the use of electronic commerce in agricultural industries, and the growth of value-added food manufacturing activity.

Jason speaks frequently to a wide range of business, financial and policy audiences across the United States and internationally. His articles on the rural economy have been cited by policy officials, researchers, and various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, and USA Today. He has also provided testimony on agricultural credit conditions to a congressional subcommittee.

Prior to being named Omaha Branch executive, Jason served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University and a bachelor's degree in economics from Central College in Pella, Iowa. He serves on the Dean's Advisory Board for the College of Agriculture at Purdue University and the National Advisory Board for the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. He is a member of the executive committee for the Nebraska Council of Economic Education and is an adviser for the Economics, Accounting, and Management Department at Central College.

Jason was raised on a family farm in Northeast Iowa and lives in the Omaha metro area with his wife and three children. 

Jake Kluth

Jake is the Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis at the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, primarily responsible for capital strategy and analysis, financial forecasting, portfolio stress testing, variance analysis and product profitability analysis. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a TA and lecturer in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics for three years. Jake is a licensed CPA and currently a Level 3 Candidate in the CFA Program.

Joel Lorenzen

Joel Lorenzen is a recently retired Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for a Farm Credit Association where he spent 17 years in that position. He has been involved with agriculture all his life. After earning a business finance degree fromOregon State University in 1975, he spent five years in the Pacific Northwest grain and farm supply business. Joel began working for the Farm Credit System in 1980 where he financed agricultural cooperatives and was progressively given increased responsibility and eventually appointed Chief Credit Officer. He is a past scholarship recipient of the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Foundation Leadership Program and graduated with honors from the University of Washington Pacific Coast Banking School in 1995. Joel served as a past director of the Arizona State Water and Agribusiness Council and was a frequent lecturer at Arizona State University Morrison School of Agribusiness. Upon retirement from Farm Credit, he formed Ag Credit Lessons to provide credit analysis training for loan officers. Joel and his wife currently reside in Spokane, Washington.

 

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 Senior Vice President, Credit and Counterparty Risk 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.

Peter Nutz

Currently, Peter Nutz serves as the Chief Credit Officer of Suncrest Bank, a community bank headquartered in Visalia, CA with branches throughout the Central Valley of CA. Most recently, he spent 13 years with Rabobank in the US and overseas in several executive positions such as EVP for Restructuring & Recovery for Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej (now BNP Paribas) in Poland and as Senior Credit Officer for Ra- bobank’s US-wide Rural & Retail Division. He also served as Director of Finance for the Offutt Companies, one of the US's largest vertically integrated agribusinesses head- quartered in Fargo, ND and as loan officer for St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives (now CoBank) in St. Paul, MN. Originally from Germany, Peter holds a Master degree in Probability Theory & Combinatorics from the University of Minnesota, MN and a Master in Mathematics & Economics from the Universität Ulm, Germany.

 

Danny Odom

Danny Odom is Director of Institutional Credit at the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation. In his position, Danny manages the credit underwriting and monitoring of the corporation’s wholesale funding relationships with financial institutions and investment companies. Danny also underwrites and manages participated and syndicated credits in which the corporation participates. Prior to his current role, Danny was credit team lead for Bank of the West’s Fresno and Visalia agricultural offices.

Aside from a short stent as relationship manager, Danny has worked in the credit side of agricultural lending his full career. Danny has 15 years of credit experience and counting. Danny is a Fresno area native and Fresno State College of Agriculture Graduate.

Gary Sawyers

Mr. Sawyers is a partner in Bolen∙Fransen∙Sawyers 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 transactional matters.  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.

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 focused on insolvency matters since 1980. Mr. Walter specializes in Chapter 11 reorganization cases representing debtors. He has handled all types of cases including but not limited to large farms, wineries, canneries, developers, retail businesses, hospitals and 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, Central California Bankruptcy Institute and the Agricultural Lending Institute.

Mr. Walter is a Certified Business Bankruptcy Specialist accredited by the American Board of Bankruptcy Certification and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Class XIII. He has been recognized as a “Top 100” Super Lawyer for Northern California for three consecutive years – 2011, 2012 and 2013 and a California Super Lawyer from 2004 through 2013.

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 to 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 was a founding board member of the Central Valley Business Incubator and currently serves as chair of the Advisory Council for the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State. He served on the City of Fresno Charter Review Commission. Mr. Walter currently serves on the Children’s Hospital of Central California’s Board of Trustees and on its Governance Committee. In addition, he has been a trustee or director of several cultural, arts and historical groups. He was formally an associate professor of agricultural business management at Cal Poly Pomona.

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).