Rick Rodriguez is the Founder and Principal of Rodriguez & Associates Advisory Group. Mr. Rodriguez is a qualified expert in banking and real estate matters and for the past 17 years has provided a wide variety of real estate brokerage, financial advisory, consulting, litigation support and expert witness services to his clients. Since 1992, Mr. Rodriguez has been advising law firms, development companies, financial institutions and investors on standard lending practices, market rates of interest, and other business transactions which often involve tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Rodriguez is a seasoned expert witness who testifies at jury trials, bench trials, arbitration proceedings, mediation sessions and by deposition and declaration.
Mr. Rodriguez is knowledgeable of capital markets and financing transactions and, as a licensed real estate broker, procures debt and equity capital for his clients from financing sources which include banks, life insurance companies, pension funds, REIT’s and conduit lenders.
Beginning in 2006, Rodriguez and Associates went dormant as Mr. Rodriguez assumed the role of President and Chief Credit Officer for a start-up community bank located in Ventura County. Mr. Rodriguez was vetted and approved by state and federal regulators as both President and Chief Credit Officer and successfully developed and promoted an innovative business plan catered to the Hispanic community and bringing the un-banked into the mainstream banking system. Rick’s vision for the bank was well received by local businesses, politicians and the community at large. In late 2008 upon opening its doors, the bank took a new direction abandoning his vision and the benefits to the Hispanic and unbanked communities and Mr. Rodriguez, not compromising his values, returned to Rodriguez and Associates.
As part of a specialized engagement from 2000 through 2002, Mr. Rodriguez served as a Consulting Senior Facilities Executive for the Los Angeles Unified School District (“LAUSD”), responsible for three of the LAUSD’s eleven mini-districts. Mr. Rodriguez was hired to locate and acquire sites for new schools in dense urban areas such as East Los Angeles, the South East Cities and South Central Los Angeles. R&A utilized creative techniques from the private sector (such as option agreements, a land bank, joint-use agreements, and land swaps) to save the District millions of dollars in site acquisition costs. Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Rodriguez constantly interacted with the Hispanic community, and all levels of elected officials and local leaders, to designate sites for 33 schools, or 38% of the LAUSD’s 2002 new building program.
For many years, Mr. Rodriguez has served as an instructor and guest speaker for various MBA courses and conferences offered at the University of Southern California including the Lusk Center’s Program in Real Estate Finance and Development for Minority Candidates. In prior years, Mr. Rodriguez also served as a course instructor for “Real Estate Loan Originations & Workouts” and “Workouts and Bankruptcies” offered by UCLA’s Extension Center and as a guest speaker at the Clairmont Colleges, the Wharton Business Alumni Association, the Debt Restructure Roundtable and other industry groups.
Prior to founding R&A, Mr. Rodriguez was a banker for more than twenty years and worked principally for Security Pacific Bank which was acquired by Bank of America in 1992. During his tenure, Mr. Rodriguez served as a Branch Officer, Credit Review Officer, Vice President in the Corporate Banking Group, a Deputy Division Administrator/Credit Officer and Senior Vice President in charge of the Restructuring Group at Security Pacific Bank. These positions provided Mr. Rodriguez with experience in the banking and finance industries at all levels in real estate, credit administration, regulatory compliance, commercial lending, middle-market lending, corporate banking, audit and consumer finance.
Mr. Rodriguez Curriculum Vitae- Download here