First California Mortgage Company (First Cal Wholesale), founded in 1977 and active throughout the U.S., has announced a major expansion in its Southern California operations with the hiring of Dave Pederson, wholesale director, an industry veteran with tenure at numerous lending firms. Pederson will cover all regions of the U.S, but will initially focus his efforts in Southern California, Arizona and Washington State, as he joins First Cal along with seven experienced sales support staff in Orange County, Calif. The group will be based in a temporary office, while a larger operations center is anticipated for completion in the first quarter of 2016.
“We’ve been active in Southern California for years, and have steadily grown our local teams of late—and will continue expanding,” said Chris Hart, president of First Cal. “We aim to be the lender of choice, as we have for hundreds of thousands of Americans for nearly three decades.”
First Cal’s new staff includes Pederson, Ann Stockberger, regional sales manager; Brandi Green, Javier Rodriguez and Manuel Lozano, account executives; Joy Subaitis, underwriter; and Jennifer Gonzalez and Stephanie Rivas, customer service advocates.
Jeff Krischer, First Cal’s VP of production, said the firm’s growth will continue with the hiring of more wholesale AEs in coming months, and the firm is recruiting a broad sales team for further expansion in Southern California, Washington and Arizona to expand the footprint in those areas. This announcement comes on the heels of a First Cal Pacific Northwest expansion into Washington, followed by Oregon and Idaho.
“First Cal’s platform is the right fit for today’s highly competitive purchase market with strong financial stability, a focus on excellent service and the operational support necessary to execute at the highest level,” said Krischer. “The firm offers the highly competitive rates you expect from a national lender and still offers the personal service of a hometown bank. That’s a perfect synergy for our employees, our clients and our industry partners.”
