Board of Directors
Ryan A. Whitzel
Mr. Whitzel serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. He has over 20 years of banking experience including experience in retail banking, credit, commercial and consumer lending, and senior management where he managed branch operations and lending staff. His banking career has been all encompassing, starting with retail banking, where he learned teller and account operations, then became a credit analyst, then a lender, and was promoted multiple times, becoming a market president, where he was consistently recognized as a top producer while maintaining exceptional credit quality. Mr. Whitzel most recently served as the Market President at a large regional bank, managing a retail operations group and lending staff with over $100 million in assets under management. While serving as Market President, he was responsible for market area profitability and management of the location’s balance sheet including margin controls, expense management and loss prevention. In addition to managing his own portfolio and staff, he served on the bank’s senior loan committee and a variety of other senior management committees offering strategic guidance to the bank. Mr. Whitzel graduated with honors from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Finance and Banking.
Keith W. Badough
Mr. Badough serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder and President. A native Houstonian, Mr. Badough’s banking career began in 1993 as a teller for a large multi-state bank. During his almost 14-year employment at the bank, he was promoted and served in a variety of roles from consumer and retail banking, mortgage lending, small business lending, portfolio management, staff development, recruiting and multi-branch management. Understanding the value of relationships and in a quest to further his career, he joined a Houston based community bank as a commercial lender, knowing that community banking was the right fit to bring value to relationships. Mr. Badough most recently served as a Market President, where he fulfilled multiple responsibilities including serving on senior loan committee, loan approval authority, portfolio quality, relationship building in addition to having a small team of community bankers reporting to him. It was this exposure to community banking which led him to understand the true value of community banks and the ability to make a difference in the community which led him to become a co-founder of Texas Traditions Bank.
William J. Kacal
Mr. Kacal serves as Chairman of the Board and Director. Mr. Kacal is an independent investor and a retired partner of Deloitte, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms. While at the firm, he served as an audit partner, was a member of the firm’s Global Financial Services Industry leadership, was national leader for the firm’s community banking practice, Regional Managing Partner for the Enterprise Risk Services practice and Deputy Regional Managing Partner for Audit and Risk services. He was also a member of Deloitte and Touche, LLP, the firm’s audit and accounting division, board of directors for seven years and a member of its Executive Committee for four years. In addition, he is a member of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas and has been a speaker at many of its events and written a regular column in the IBAT magazine. Mr. Kacal was a member of the board of Integrity Bank for eight years until its sale in 2018. He previously served on the board of directors of Goodwill Industry International from 2006 to 2013, as Chairman of the Board, as well as Chairman of the Audit Committee, Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee and Vice Chairman. He also served as Chairman of Goodwill Industries of Houston, Vice Chairman, Chairman of Audit Committee and currently as Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Kacal is currently a member of the board of directors U.S. Silica Holdings, an NYSE company, chairman of its Audit Committee and a member of its Governance and Compensation Committees. He is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Mr. Kacal holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from Texas A&M University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a NACD Board Leadership Fellow.
Michael C. Dierschke
Michael Dierschke is the owner of Monarch Stainless, LLC, a prominent stainless steel distribution company, which he purchased in 2021. Mr. Dierschke has over thirty years of experience in sales, distribution, purchasing, business management, credit management, quality control, and human resources. Prior to Monarch Stainless, LLC, Mr. Dierschke was part owner of an industrial fastener distribution and manufacturing company that was started in 2003. This start-up company (which was sold in 2016) grew to over 120 employees and was housed under over 150,000 square feet of company owned real estate. Mr. Dierschke holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial distribution from the University of Houston and is a native Houstonian.
Vicki G. Keiser
Ms. Keiser is a retired partner of Deloitte, a global professional services firm. She brings a deep understanding of regulated industries, including healthcare and financial services, in addition to experience in other industrial sectors. Ms. Keiser previously served as one of five regional U.S. leaders to launch and implement Deloitte’s Women Initiative Network (WIN) in 1993, one of the first corporate diversity initiatives among global service companies. Ms. Keiser currently serves as the Board Chair of Community Health Choice. She also serves as Chair of the Audit Committee at Banner Health and is a member of their Strategy and Finance Committees. In the community service sector, Ms. Keiser has served on the Alzheimer’s Association National board and the Amazing Place- Houston board. Ms. Keiser received her Bachelor of Arts and her Master’s in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of NACD.
Rand W. Lassus
Mr. Lassus is the Managing Member of Strategic Paths, LLC. He has over 20 years of experience in banking, starting with credit analysis, commercial lender, then Chief Credit Officer of a local bank. Mr. Lassus currently has a consulting practice for small businesses and banks. Mr. Lassus holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from The University of Texas.
Matthew C. Mabry
Mr. Mabry is the President of MCM Commercial Concrete, Inc., a commercial concrete company located in Houston, Texas. Mr. Mabry has more than twenty years of business experience including holding Chief Executive Officer positions, board positions and ownership interests in approximately a dozen companies with as many as 800 employees and revenues of over $120.0 million. Mr. Mabry has a considerable amount of construction, real estate development, and management experience. This extensive background has provided him with substantial knowledge in managing field operations, human resources, accounting, and sales groups. Additionally, through the management and/or ownership of these businesses, he has deep understanding of commercial and business banking products, including bank treasury/depository products and the structuring of C&I and commercial loans. Mr. Mabry holds a degree in international business economics from Sam Houston State University.
Darren A. Miller
Mr. Miller has been practicing law for over 20 years and is the founding partner of D. Miller & Associates, PLLC, a firm specializing in personal injury and national mass tort litigation. His firm settles well over $100 million a year in resolutions, including the recent settlement of the largest collegiate sexual assault case in history. D. Miller and Associates, PLLC has 129 employees and over 57,000 active cases. Mr. Miller’s firm focuses on cases that involve assisting victims of exploitation. Mr. Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Texas A&M University. After college, Mr. Miller moved back to Houston to attend St. Thomas University, where he received an MBA with a concentration in finance. He then attended Texas Southern University, where he received his law degree. In addition to the law firm, Mr. Miller owns a legal intake company and various real estate holdings.
Samuel A. Morris
Mr. Morris currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Sunset Capital, a Houston-based vertically integrated real estate investment and asset management firm. Prior to his service with Sunset Capital, he was a corporate banker for 18 years. During that time, he worked for multiple small and regional banks. At the time that Mr. Morris left the banking industry, he was personally managing an approximate $54.0 million loan portfolio and an approximate $42.0 million deposit portfolio, while managing an office with over $100.0 million in assets. He was a voting member of the bank’s loan committee and helped with direction of the strategy of the bank. Mr. Morris’ company currently manages over $130.0 million in commercial real estate. Mr. Morris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and an Associate in Arts degree from Northwood University.
John C. Pritchett
Mr. Pritchett currently serves as a Partner at Partners Real Estate. Mr. Pritchett has twenty plus years of experience in commercial real estate, with a focus on industrial and land brokerage. In his current role with Partners, a Houston-based national commercial real estate firm, Mr. Pritchett has consistently been a top producer for the last decade. His experience includes but is not limited to commercial land acquisition/disposition, tenant representation, industrial owner-occupied real estate, industrial investment real estate and stabilization of underperforming properties within existing client portfolios. Mr. Pritchett is a member of the prestigious Society of Industrial & Office Realtors (SIOR), where he holds the society’s industrial certification. In addition to his commercial brokerage activities, he presides on an investment committee for a Texas based large commercial real estate investment fund. Mr. Pritchett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Houston Baptist University.
David E. Roth
Mr. Roth serves as Chief Financial Officer at Texas Traditions Bank. Mr. Roth began his career in community banking. After graduate school, he had a thirty-year career in consulting and advisory services, which included national responsibilities for corporate finance and valuation consulting within the financial services industry for a global accounting and consulting firm. He also ran his own firm providing valuation and corporate advisory services to community and regional banks for nearly twenty years. Mr. Roth had prior experience in helping form another bank, where he served on the board from inception until it was sold to a regional institution. While on the board, he served on the loan, audit, and governance committees and served as the chair of the Asset/Liability committee. Mr. Roth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from Baylor University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Virginia.
Cullen d. Zalman
Mr. Zalman currently serves as Senior Vice President – Banking and Corporate Activities for Prosperity Bank, El Campo, Texas, where he has worked since 2017. Prior to his time with Prosperity Bank, Mr. Zalman worked as an investment banking associate for Keefe Bruyette and Woods, a Stifel Company, in their New York office. While at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, Mr. Zalman worked in the Investment Banking group with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and equity and debt capital solutions for the Financial Industries Group. In his current role at Prosperity Bank, Mr. Zalman continues to focus on mergers and acquisitions as well as general corporate development and investor relations. He also serves on Prosperity Bank’s Operations Committee, Projects and Vendor Governance Committee, Strategic Technology Oversight Committee, Asset Liability Management/Investment Officers Committee and is Chairman of the Environmental, Social and Governance Committee. Mr. Zalman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from the University of Texas at Austin.