Doug Johnson Director – Agriculture Industry Practice Lead Moody's Analytics (402) 344-5217

Doug Johnson is a Director at Moody's Analytics specializing in Agriculture and has been with Moody's Analytics for over 25 years. Doug has worked with Ag lenders all across the United States and Canada, and is a frequent presenter on Agricultural topics via webinars, speaking at numerous state, regional and national Ag conferences, graduate schools of banking, and leads the charge on new Ag functionality within our solution to help serve our Agricultural customer base. His strong passion for Agricultural awareness stems from growing up on his fourth-generation Family Farm coupled with his teaching education background. Doug has first-hand experience with the cyclical and volatile nature of the Ag markets, which enables him to pull from his background and provide a valuable perspective while working with lenders and producers across the country.

Bill Kitsch Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer Ephrata National Bank

Bill Kitsch is Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer at Ephrata National Bank.  Bill is the senior leader responsible to promote the bank’s organic growth and meet its strategic goals and initiatives. In his current position, Bill leads the commercial, small business, consumer, and agricultural lending groups of a $2B asset bank in central PA. Bill also leads the bank’s wealth management division which consists of a trust company with $1B in assets under management.  

As a project executive with Temple’s Fox MC, Bill coaches MBA students through practical research and strategic development projects. These projects have been completed on behalf of non-profits, CDFIs, economic development corporations, urban farms, and notably the PA Department of Agriculture.

Bill holds a B.S. in Agricultural Business from Delaware Valley University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Millersville University.  Bill is 2012 graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.  

Lynn Paulson Senior Vice President and Director of Agribusiness Development Bell Bank

Lynn Paulson is senior vice president and director of agribusiness development for Bell Bank. He often speaks to financial, commodity and other farm groups on agricultural lending and finance, the global economy and the ag economy. He has audiences fully engaged as he discusses timely issues like the difficulties farmers, lenders and others face in the aftermath of super-cycle prosperity.

Financing farm operations and businesses for more than 35 years as well as simultaneously owning and operating a family farm in Benson County, N.D., have given Paulson a unique perspective on the agricultural sector’s challenges and opportunities. Additionally, he works with and assists a number of correspondent banking partners and agricultural operations and businesses across several Midwestern states.

Dr. David Kohl, an author and nationally known speaker on the economics of farming and agribusiness, endorses Lynn as a respected and knowledgeable authority in agricultural lending and finance.

“Lynn Paulson is an experienced banking practitioner who can relate to a wide range of audiences, including agricultural lenders, producers and agribusiness owners, in a practical manner,” Kohl says. “Lynn is an articulate speaker who is very appropriate for the challenging and changing times.”

Paulson’s experience in banking and financial operations includes starting a new bank and later merging four banks and three holding companies into one company that grew to $600 million before he joined Bell Bank. He also writes a quarterly publication on agricultural issues called AgViews.

Paulson is a past member of the American Bankers Association Agricultural and Rural Bankers Committee and other financial boards.