A Sit Down with MWSBF CEO Spencer Davis
Published on: November 3, 2025
[This interview has been edited for clarity and content.]
MWSBF: Let’s jump right in and talk about your history with Mountain West Small Business Finance. Over your decades-long history with Mountain West, you’ve had so many different roles. Is this where you thought you would end up?
SPENCER: No. Never. [Laughs]. I mean, Mountain West has been my whole life. My dad literally started it the year I was born.
First, I just admire that so much. He started a business the year that his second son was born—such a leap of faith, such a risk — to do something that he was passionate about. It seems so brave.
It inspires me, especially as I’m working with other small business owners, to think about what a risk they take to do this. That’s the fun part of the job — getting to see the risks that people take and the successes that they have because of that.
MWSBF: So, Scott took a risk to get this company started. You haven’t been in Salt Lake the whole time. Was it a risk, a leap of faith when you relocated to St. George? Tell me about your experience down there as a loan officer.
SPENCER: So, I wouldn’t call it a leap of faith. At the time, I honestly didn’t have a lot of direction of what I wanted to do. I was headed towards something in the medical industry, but not like a doctor or anything like that, more on the business side of healthcare, so healthcare administration.
That’s sort of what I had decided I was interested in and wanted to do. And then had the opportunity to become a loan officer for Mountain West down in the St. George market.
MWSBF: What year was that?
SPENCER: That was in 2005. I saw that job as an opportunity to get experience before heading to grad school. And I was still somewhat planning on moving into healthcare administration and thought some business experience would be helpful, and relevant towards that.
Then it just turned into a really fun, very rewarding job. I loved my coworkers, loved the [bankers] and customers that I had in St. George, and so I stuck with it.
MWSBF: Was there a particular moment or was it gradually—where you recognized that that this actually was your home, and you wanted to eventually lead the company?
SPENCER: [Early on], I don’t think there was a moment that I was like, ‘Oh, I want to lead this company one day.’ I was just really happy doing what I was doing, and at that time, the thought of going back to school just felt miserable.
So much of this goes back to Scott and Steve (Scott Davis, founder and former CEO and Steve Suite, former Chief Administrative Officer). Seeing how much fun they had together, and the idea of being able to run the business with my closest friends, was the part of the job that was the most appealing to me. Over time, Scott, Steve and John kept giving Danny, Judd and myself more and more opportunities to lead, to discuss strategy and make strategic decisions. I loved it and I thought I was good at it. The idea of leading this company with Danny and Judd was increasingly appealing.
MWSBF: Ok let’s shift gears from history and Mountain West for a minute.
[In Spencer’s office, a row of various scarves or “Supporter Shields” are hung as art on the south wall.] He spends a little time sharing stories about where different ones come from — he recently took a trip across the pond to support his favorite team, get his European Football fix, and even got a cameo in an episode of FX’s Welcome to Wrexham.
MWSBF: What’s your team?
SPENCER: Liverpool.
MWSBF: Any specific reason why: are you a huge Beatles fan?
SPENCER: Definitely not.
MWSBF: You’re not a Beatles fan at all?
SPENCER: I’m not. I’m a Liverpool fan because I just love the way that they play. It’s so exciting. I also love the city of Liverpool. The history of the city, the type of people that live there, the way that they speak. Everything about it is, I just love it. My personality fits into it.
MWSBF: So, when did you adopt them?
SPENCER: Probably around 2010 was when I started really getting into and becoming passionate about it. It’s been an obsession ever since.
MWSBF: So Liverpool yes, but not a fan of the Beatles. Though I had heard you’ve seen Pearl Jam like 600 times in concert.
SPENCER: I’ve seen Pearl Jam way too many times. Great band. My wife, Allison, loves them and they’re her favorite band. So, you know, we’ve traveled to Seattle to see them, we’ve gone to Montana, Arizona, a few times here in Utah, so, yes, multiple times. Eddie [Vedder, Pearl Jam front man] is very entertaining, very interactive with the crowd, and they’re super fun to see.
But my favorite concert ever was Rage Against the Machine. I did that one when I was in high school. That was back in 1998. That’s been my absolute favorite concert ever.
MWSBF: Speaking of favorites, is there a favorite MWSBF deal you’ve done?
SPENCER: I can think of more, but one that stands out is [Sol] Foods in Springdale (Utah). I loved working with the owner of that business.
He had a little market that was in town, and he saw a need for an actual grocery store in Springdale. He picked this great spot, designed his building so that you could capture all of the views of Zion National Park.
He was already a successful business owner with his small market. He came to us with a business plan and he had this whole vision of what he wanted.
He was a ton of fun to work with—very passionate and excited for his project. He had a really cool vision of what he wanted his grocery store to look like. It was great to see it through from the very beginning.
MWSBF: Sounds like an awesome deal. And speaking of deals, is there something that you wish that lenders who are new to 504, or haven’t worked with Mountain West before, knew? Or what you’d want more lenders to understand about the 504 program going into it?
SPENCER: I wish that all lenders would see—and some do, but some don’t— I wish they would see the competitive advantage that comes from doing a 504 loan. I wish they understood a 504 loan is not just a loan of last resort, which we’re seeing as a common misconception with lenders outside the state of Utah.
It’s not just for businesses that are struggling, or if there are no other avenues to get them the building that they want.
Even if it’s already a successful business, 504 is such an advantage for the small business owner and the lender.
MWSBF: That seems like a great place to close, but before we do is there anything else you’d like to add about your time with MWSBF?
SPENCER: I’m so proud of the culture that we’ve been able to maintain and build on at Mountain West. It’s such a fun culture that we have.
You know, SBA lending can be so boring. [Laughs ] I mean, nobody gets out of bed in the morning just dying to go and do SBA loans, except for maybe Scott Davis.
MWSBF: Yes, maybe Scott Davis.
SPENCER: So yes, there may be a few that do. But you know, everybody here loves their job: and it’s because they love the people that they work with, and they love Mountain West.
There are people that work in our industry that want to be here. You know, they look at this like, ‘man, that would be such a good job.’
They love the way that we work and the way that we treat our employees. They want to work here, and our employees stay here. They stay here for a long time, and I think that’s what I’m most proud of — is just how happy people are that work here.
Spencer Davis is the new Chief Executive Officer for Mountain West Small Business Finance.