About Celtic Bank

Reese S. Howell, Jr.

Mr. Howell is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Celtic Bank. He is also the President and Director of Celtic Bank’s parent company, Celtic Investment Inc. Prior to his involvement with Celtic, he served as the President of Salt Lake Mortgage Corp until 2001 when its operations were consolidated with Celtic Bank. Mr. Howell has been involved as a principal, as well as an advisor, in numerous investment banking, merger, acquisition, and joint venture transactions. Mr. Howell obtained his BS in Business Administration from the University of Utah in 1991 with a major in finance, and his MBA from the University of Utah in 1996. Mr. Howell currently serves as a member of the National Advisory Board for the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. Mr. Howell also serves on the Board of Directors and as a member of the Executive Committee for the National Association of Industrial Banks (NAIB). Mr. Howell is active in many civic and community organizations. Mr. Howell is married (Linda) and has two children and three grandchildren.

Wade Newman

Mr. Newman joined Celtic Bank in February 2005 after 20 years of experience providing financial leadership to businesses in the public and private sector. From 1999 to 2005, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Mining Services International, Inc., a multi-national manufacturer and distributor of commercial explosives, and formerly a NASDAQ-reporting company. Mr. Newman also served as Chief Financial Officer for Recovery Corporation, a commercial recycling and specialty waste processing company, from 1990 to 1999. From 1985 to 1990, Mr. Newman worked for the multi-national public accounting firm of Ernst & Young. Mr. Newman received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University in 1985.

Troy D’Ambrosio

Mr. D’Ambrosio currently serves as Executive Director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah. Since 2014, he has also held the Presidential Chair in Entrepreneurship and serves as Assistant Dean of the David Eccles School of Business, also at the University of Utah. Mr. D’Ambrosio has co-founded multiple business ventures and was the recipient of the Governor’s Medal in Science and Technology in 2015, the Best in State Educational Administrator in 2009, the vSpring Top 100 Entrepreneurs in 2008 and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the State of Utah in 2000. Mr. D’Ambrosio holds a bachelor degree in Political Science from the University of Utah.

Robert J. Gregory

Mr. Gregory has been the founder and President of a number of financial companies. Most recently, his involvement has been with Northbrook Investment Management LLC, Westpointe Capital Management Corp, and Vista Income Partners. Specializing in domestic and international equity and fixed income securities, Mr. Gregory has been responsible for strategic planning, investment strategy, and portfolio management. Mr. Gregory has extensive experience in the valuation and analysis of small and medium sized businesses, and has been integrally involved in the underwriting and analysis of commercial real estate projects. Mr. Gregory received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University in 1980, where he majored in Economics; a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, where he majored in accounting, and earned his Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University in 1989, where he majored in finance. His analytical expertise and ethical standards have earned him a high degree of respect within the national business community.

Richard T. Pratt

Dr. Pratt brings the benefits of three decades of public and private transactions and policy making to help the board fully explore the implications of strategic corporate decisions. He is a successful local businessman, who has vast experience with corporations, financial institutions, government agencies and foreign governments. After 12 years as a Professor of Finance at the David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Dr. Pratt served as Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington D.C. from 1981-1983. Dr. Pratt was the Chairman of Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital, Inc., organizing the company’s effort to become a major originator and trader of mortgage-backed securities. In this position he also served as the Senior Relationship Manager to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. From 1991-1994 Dr. Pratt was a Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group, for Merrill Lynch & Co., founding the financial institutions restructuring group. Dr. Pratt attended the University of Utah, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Management in 1961, and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance in 1962. He received a Doctorate of Business Administration degree in Finance from Indiana University in 1966.

Eric Petersen

Eric is Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Strategic Lending Partnerships. He joined Celtic in 2006 and has held several positions over the years in business development, corporate development, strategic planning and new initiatives.  Eric was the founder of the bank’s Strategic Lending Partnership (SLP) program and has executive responsibility for the P&L and overall performance of the program.  The SLP program develops and implements strategic initiatives with leading innovators in fintech, specialty finance and credit card sectors.  Eric is a member of the Celtic Board of Directors and serves on several Board committees including ALCO (Asset/Liability), Compliance, Credit Risk, Risk Management, and Technology. He is an experienced investment banker, investor and lender and has strong expertise in deal structuring and origination.  Eric holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Finance from Babson College, and bachelor’s degrees in both Economics and Political Science from the University of Utah.

Marcus Whitney

Marcus Whitney is a Founding Partner of Jumpstart Health Investors (JHI), the most active early-stage healthcare venture capital firm in America. Of JHI’s funds, Marcus leads Jumpstart Nova, JHI’s institutional, strategic, healthcare seed fund.

Marcus is also co-founder and minority owner of Major League Soccer team, Nashville Soccer Club.

Marcus is the author of the Amazon #1 best-selling book “Create and Orchestrate“, about claiming your Creative Power through entrepreneurship. His work has been featured by Entrepreneur, CNBC, Inc., NPR, Fast Company, and The Atlantic.

Marcus is an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow, and a member of the board of the Healthcare Finance Management Association, Celtic Bank, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, OZ Arts, and Scott Hamilton CARES.

Marcus actively competes in Jiu Jitsu, is a 3X IBJJF Masters World Champion, and trains on the competition team at Renzo Gracie Nashville under Shawn Williams.

He has an incredible, supportive family.

Rajesh U. Kothari (Raj) draws on over thirty years of experience as an investor, a financial advisor, and an entrepreneur. He is the founder and Managing Director of Cascade Partners, a private investment and investment banking firm where he assists companies with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate finance activities. In addition, Cascade Partners makes a variety of control and non-control investments in companies in the business service, high-value manufacturing, technology, and healthcare sectors.

Before forming Cascade Partners, Rajesh co-founded Seneca Partners, Inc., a similar investment banking and private investment firm. He co-led the Seneca Health Partners, a private equity fund. Prior to establishing Seneca Partners, he was a Director at Beringea (formerly GMA Capital), a boutique investment banking and venture capital firm. Rajesh led numerous divestitures, recapitalizations, acquisitions, and other strategic transactions, as well as co-managed the firm’s healthcare private equity fund. He began his investment career as a money manager at Masco Corporation and then at Cranbrook Capital Management.

Rajesh has extensive board service, including Celtic Bank, Priority Health, Micro Machine Company, LLC (Chair), MedBio, Inc., Amicas, Computer Dynamics, Active Health Management, VerNova, and Providence Health Foundation. Rajesh is also an active member of a variety of trade and community organizations.

He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and at the University of Notre Dame at the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the latter for over 12 years. Rajesh’s other community service includes the Civil Air Patrol (“CAP”), a volunteer auxiliary of the United States Air Force, where he has served for over 40 years and is now a Colonel. He has served as the Commander of the Michigan Wing and is currently on the Board of Governors.

Rajesh, a Chartered Financial Analyst, earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. He currently holds the Series 7, 79, 24, and 28 licenses from FINRA.

Mrs. Howell has worked with Celtic Bank since its inception in 2001, and worked with Salt Lake Mortgage for seven years before its operations were consolidated with Celtic Bank.  Mrs. Howell has 40 years of lending and banking experience.  In addition to her marketing responsibilities, she leads the banks Customer Experience and Human Resource teams.  She founded and serves on both the bank’s Events and Wellness committees and is the executive sponsor of the bank’s Women’s Network.  Mrs. Howell is a member of the Board of Directors and serves on the Boards Compliance and Risk Management committees.  Mrs. Howell holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah.

Shannon Kelly is an experienced industry leader in Risk Management, as well as a former Senior Regulator.  As a Risk Management executive at large international and US regional banks, she built risk functions in the first, second, and third lines of defense, across the areas of Model Development, Model Risk, Enterprise Risk Management, and Audit.  With over 20 years of industry experience, she served as a Senior Officer at the Federal Reserve where she implemented a national program for supervisory stress testing designed to assess how financial institutions withstand economic shocks.  Currently, she is building a consulting practice focusing on training and advising industry leaders on leading practices in Quantitative Methodologies, Risk Management, and Regulatory Practices.

Throughout her career in financial services, Shannon has served on committees and advisory boards with the Risk Management Association, American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, and the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  She is a respected voice in the financial services industry, shaping the broader discourse.

Her dedication extends beyond her work to include social impact and community development having served on the Administrative and Finance Committee of the United Way of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission, and as an advisor/volunteer for nonprofits.

Shannon holds a Master of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Reese S. Howell, Sr.

Mr. Howell is a highly regarded business leader in the state of Utah. He attended the University of Utah and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 1963, and a J.D. from the University of Utah School of Law in 1966. He began his career as in-house counsel for a large local real estate development company, specializing in the preparation of contracts of purchase and sale. In 1970 he acquired partial ownership in Title Insurance Agency of Utah, Inc., which is now Security Title Insurance Agency of Utah, Inc. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Howell oversaw all operations, title examinations and escrow matters. Mr. Howell has guest lectured on real property law in Utah and abroad. He was also on the staff at Westminster College, teaching Business Law.

Reese S. Howell, Jr.

Mr. Howell is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Celtic Bank. He is also the President and Director of Celtic Bank’s parent company, Celtic Investment Inc. Prior to his involvement with Celtic, he served as the President of Salt Lake Mortgage Corp until 2001 when its operations were consolidated with Celtic Bank. Mr. Howell has been involved as a principal, as well as an advisor, in numerous investment banking, merger, acquisition, and joint venture transactions. Mr. Howell obtained his BS in Business Administration from the University of Utah in 1991 with a major in finance, and his MBA from the University of Utah in 1996. Mr. Howell currently serves as a member of the National Advisory Board for the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. Mr. Howell also serves on the Board of Directors and as a member of the Executive Committee for the National Association of Industrial Banks (NAIB). Mr. Howell is active in many civic and community organizations. Mr. Howell is married (Linda) and has two children and two grandchildren.

Todd Boren

Todd Boren is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Celtic Bank, having joined the institution in 2016 as its Chief Risk Officer. With over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Mr. Boren brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise, particularly in risk management, where he has held leadership roles for over a decade. Prior to joining Celtic Bank, he served as the Chief Risk Officer at the American Express Utah-based banks. Mr. Boren holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

Jake Barney

Mr. Barney joined Celtic Bank in 2006 and served as the Bank’s Controller until May of 2013. Mr. Barney has been instrumental in helping to grow both the assets and the equity of Celtic Bank by more than 300% while helping to manage the Bank. Mr. Barney began his career in banking in 2002 and has held various accounting and finance positions at multiple financial institutions. Mr. Barney received his BS in Accounting and his Masters of Accounting from the University of Utah.

Timothy J. McGoff

Mr. McGoff joined Celtic Bank in 2015 and serves as Chief Business Development Officer. He is responsible for driving business growth through management of national sales teams, development of marketing programs and implementation of new processes and technologies. Tim has over 12 years of Commercial and SBA Lending experience including tenure with Citibank and U.S. Bank. Prior to his financial industry experience, Tim held several business and product development roles within the B2B, enterprise software and retail industries. Tim holds a BA in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany.

Linda M. Howell

Mrs. Howell has worked with Celtic Bank since its inception in 2001, and worked with Salt Lake Mortgage for seven years before its operations were consolidated with Celtic Bank.  Mrs. Howell has 40 years of lending and banking experience.  In addition to her marketing responsibilities, she leads the banks Customer Experience and Human Resource teams.  She founded and serves on both the bank’s Events and Wellness committees and is the executive sponsor of the bank’s Women’s Network.  Mrs. Howell is a member of the Board of Directors and serves on the Boards Compliance and Risk Management committees.  Mrs. Howell holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah.

Eric Petersen

Eric is Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Strategic Lending Partnerships. He joined Celtic in 2006 and has held several positions over the years in business development, corporate development, strategic planning and new initiatives.  Eric was the founder of the bank’s Strategic Lending Partnership (SLP) program and has executive responsibility for the P&L and overall performance of the program.  The SLP program develops and implements strategic initiatives with leading innovators in fintech, specialty finance and credit card sectors.  Eric is a member of the Celtic Board of Directors and serves on several Board committees including ALCO (Asset/Liability), Compliance, Credit Risk, Risk Management, and Technology. He is an experienced investment banker, investor and lender and has strong expertise in deal structuring and origination.  Eric holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Finance from Babson College, and bachelor’s degrees in both Economics and Political Science from the University of Utah.

Andrew DeLuca

Mr. DeLuca has been an attorney for more than 25 years. He started his legal career as a litigator, gaining valuable experience handling jury trials and appeals in Chicago.  Thereafter, he moved in-house and has been General Counsel for over 15 years, all in the financial services industry.  Prior to joining Celtic Bank, he served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of one of the nation’s largest independent auto sales and finance companies.

Mr. DeLuca is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Andrew Yenchik

Andrew Yenchik joined Celtic Bank as CTO in January 2023. He brings with him over 15 years of IT and Software Engineering Management experience. He spent 10 of those 15 years leading IT and software teams at national financial and insurance institutions. Before Celtic, he was VP of Software Engineering at Hagerty; Managing Director of Engineering at Charles Schwab; and Director of Software Engineering at USAA. 

At Celtic, Andrew leads the IT, InfoSec, Software Engineering, Product Management, and Data groups. 

Andrew is a graduate of the University of Utah, where he completed a degree in Information Systems.  He also holds a master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Ben Johnson

Ben is currently the Chief Commercial Finance Officer for Celtic Bank, a Utah-based industrial bank that provides specialized commercial lending services.

Ben previously spent seventeen years at Silicon Valley Bank, where he most recently led the seed stage commercial banking effort in the United States after building a national business development startup business unit and growing a regional specialized commercial finance division.

Before joining Silicon Valley Bank, Ben spent over a decade playing private and commercial banking roles at Wells Fargo and US Bank.

He received his undergraduate degree in International Finance & Spanish from the University of Saint Thomas. He earned an MBA in Finance & Strategy from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

Ben and his spouse, Erin, recently relocated to Salt Lake City from Minneapolis & are currently discovering the joy of what Utah has to offer recreationally amidst spending time traveling to be with their three adult children, who are spread across the globe.

He supports Habitat for Humanity and Feed My Starving Children, and a mentoring program that pairs high school seniors with elementary school students.

Josh Hovermale

Josh joined Celtic Bank as Chief Credit Officer in January 2025. He brings over 20 years of financial services experience with a focus on credit underwriting and portfolio risk management. Before joining Celtic Bank, Josh served as Managing Director and Head of Portfolio Management for BMO Capital Markets’ US Diversified Corporate Banking team. Prior to US Diversified, Josh worked in the Special Assets Management Unit, developing and implementing strategies to prevent or limit loan loss. Josh began his banking career at JPMorgan.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.