Amplify: Regent Bank Bringing Venture Banking to Oklahoma Startup Scenes; Names Peter Mullen Director of Venture and Tech Banking

Regent Bank has named Peter Mullen Director of Venture and Tech Banking, as the migration of talent from traditional innovation hubs like the Bay Area and NYC continues to Midwestern cities.

Mullen is a veteran of the Silicon Valley tech scene, and he has decades of experience in IT, product and business development. He has held leadership positions with a long and diverse list of Bay Area venture firms, startups, and multinational corporations such as Hewlett-Packard, Bizzabo, RocketSpace, Sonic.net, Alchemist Accelerator, and SaaStr, to name just a few. A native Tulsan, Mullen returned to his hometown recently as an advisor to the Build in Tulsa Techstars Accelerator.

In his new role with Regent, Peter will lead the bank’s relationship development for tech communities in all of Regent’s markets in Oklahoma and Missouri, providing them with essential resources including business partnerships and growth capital. Mullen will also serve as a well-connected advisor and mentor to local accelerator and startup communities that have arisen recently in downtown districts in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Springfield, MO.

“I’m beyond excited to join such an incredible organization at a very interesting time as Tulsa emerges as a legitimate hub for tech startup growth and inclusive innovation,” Mullen said. “I look forward to working with such a strong and visionary leadership team that recognizes what’s needed for tech startups to succeed right here in Tulsa and other regional communities in the Heartland.”

“Tech and innovation are the future of our economy,” Regent Bank Chairman and CEO Sean Kouplen said. “We are excited to do our part to help these remarkable entrepreneurs and founders be successful.”

Regent’s entry into venture banking comes amid a tech and cultural renaissance in Downtown Tulsa, an area that, prior to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, had been home to “Black Wall Street” in the Greenwood District, one of the wealthiest Black communities in the United States.

“What’s extra special, with the resurgence of Black Wall Street as the core of the Tulsa tech community, is that local incubators and accelerators have already graduated more Black-led tech startups than I’ve seen in all my years in Silicon Valley. That’s something we at Regent Bank hope to be a significant part of helping to drive continued success in company formation and truly inclusive job growth.”

Regent Bank was founded in 1898 in Nowata, OK, and was acquired by Regent Capital Corporation 14 years ago. The bank has grown to seven locations in Oklahoma and Missouri including Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow, Edmond, Bartlesville and Nowata as well as Springfield, MO. It also has mortgage and insurance divisions, treasury services, and private healthcare banking.

Regent specializes in combining state-of-the-art, online mobile banking tools with a personalized approach, so customers get to know their banker by name. Regent offers unique products, including totally free banking to non-profits, free checking for businesses up to 1,000 transactions, and one of the state’s lowest overdraft fees. Regent is among the country’s fastest growing financial institutions with more than $1.1 billion in total assets.

Regent has won many awards including the ABA’s Central United States Community Bank of the Year, the AIB’s Extraordinary Banking Award, Inc. Magazine’s Best Places to Work in 2018 and 2019, and it was honored by Oklahoma Magazine and Tulsa World as one of the Best of the Best Banks in Oklahoma.

Regent Bank is a Member FDIC & Equal Housing Lender.