President & CEO
Utah Bankers Association
Mr. Headlee was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Utah Bankers Association, April 1997. The Utah Bankers Association is a trade association serving the banking industry in the state of Utah, the 5th largest banking state in the U. S. Its membership consists of state and nationally chartered banks, savings banks and FDIC insured industrial banks. Mr. Headlee has been recognized as one of Utah’s 100 most influential people and is a member of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
As leader of the UBA, Mr. Headlee created the Regulatory Feedback Initiative, a nationwide program to collect feedback on bank examinations in order to introduce transparency and accountability into the bank examination process. He also launched the industry’s first “Super PAC” Friends of Traditional Banking designed to organize and focus independent personal political contributions from across the U.S. into key Congressional races.
Mr. Headlee currently serves as the Chairman of the 50 State Alliance of Banking Associations and a member of the Board of the American Bankers Association.
Prior to leading the UBA, Mr. Headlee served as Vice President of the Utah Taxpayers Association, and as an auditor in the Detroit office of the international accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick.
Mr. Headlee also served as Chairman and founder of Utah Center for Neighborhood Stabilization, Chairman of the Legislative Policy Committee for the Utah Partnership for Education and Economic Development, and Chairman of Artistic Resource for Teachers and Students (A.R.T.S. Inc.) a non-profit organization committed to maintaining the influence of the fine arts in Utah’s elementary schools.
In 2001 he founded the American Preparatory Academy, the largest and one of the most successful public charter schools in Utah. APA now has 7 campuses in two states and serves more than 4,000 students. In 2012, Mr. Headlee was appointed by Utah Governor Gary Herbert to serve on the Utah State Charter School Board where he served as Chairman until he retired in 2016.
Mr. Headlee received his Bachelor of Science from the Brigham Young University School of Accountancy and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Utah.
Howard and his wife Tana are the parents of six children and live in Sandy, Utah.