2021 OC 50: Building Financial Powerhouses

OC’s long been a hub for financiers and mortgage lenders. Some well-known entities here have lasted decades, others have counted much shorter histories. The three execs listed on this page are setting their companies up for the long haul.

BIO: Runs one of the largest banks headquartered in Southern California, and the largest based in OC by assets. Gardner in 2000 took over a failing Riverside-based bank and moved it to Irvine. He grew the bank organically and through acquisitions, while avoiding disasters such as the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2007-08. One of best-performing stocks of any OC company over past decade.

NOTABLE: Busy 2020. Funded more than $1.3B in new federal program for small businesses called PPP and it completed its largest acquisition ever, the $744M purchase of crosstown rival Opus Bank. Bank valued around $4.3B.

QUOTABLE: “We are seeing the benefit of scale as a $20B institution in terms of our ability to attract full banking relationships with larger, more sophisticated middle market competence and stronger credit sponsors of commercial real estate projects.”

JARED WOLFF
CEO
Banc of California Inc.
Santa Ana
NYSE: BANC

Favorite Sports: golf and watching college basketball

BIO: Heads the second-largest bank by assets in Orange County. Joined in 2019, and after two years of reorganization (including ending of naming rights deal for new downtown L.A. soccer stadium) put the bank back on growth track. In March, announced deal to buy Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (Nasdaq: PMBC) in an all-stock transaction valued at $235M.

NOTABLE: The acquisition of Pacific Mercantile will result in a bank with $9.5B in assets. On a pro-forma basis, the combined banks will count $7.5B in deposits and $7.1B in loans. Bank valued around $900M.

QUOTABLE: “This deal checked many boxes,” he said in late March. “While the outlook isn’t fully clear, people are feeling optimistic. Things are looking brighter. We’re certainly in growth mode.”

ANTHONY HSIEH
Founder, CEO
loanDepot Inc.
Foothill Ranch
NYSE: LDI

Favorite Sport: sportfishing

BIO: Helms the nation’s second most valuable nonbank mortgage lender. Went public in February, with market valuation near $4B, loanDepot is among the 10 most valuable publicly traded companies in Orange County.

NOTABLE: Company has generated more than $275B in loans and now has over 10,000 employees, after 2020 hiring push. Hsieh in February told analysts he plans to continue “aggressively onboarding full-time employees.” Named Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year in the finance sector in January.

QUOTABLE: “It really is an honor to be newly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and we look forward to building long-term value for all of our stakeholders including our new shareholders.”