Dan Franklin is EVP, Director of Commercial Real Estate at River City Bank. He manages the commercial real estate lending activity for the Bank and leads a team that focuses on establishing long-term relationships with commercial real estate investors across the Western U.S. Dan took time to chat with us about ‘80s rock and country music, and his one-time dream of becoming a veterinarian.
Hometown: Los Altos, CA
First Job: Cleaning fish tanks at an aquarium store.
Favorite song: Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again." It always pumps me up for whatever I’m doing.
Favorite place to visit: Costa Rica. I’m a huge animal and nature lover and being in the natural environment of so many amazing creatures fills my soul.
Favorite place in Sacramento/Bay Area/Southern California: Avila Beach.
First site or app you check in the morning: Yahoo Finance, primarily to check interest rates. If rates are down, it’s a good day for business development!
Morning ritual: I blast music to wake up my kids, make coffee and breakfast, remind them 20 times to get dressed and brush their teeth, and then ride my bike with them in tow to their elementary school.
If you have an extra hour in the day, how would you spend it? Playing with my kids.
Radio or podcasts? Podcasts. My favorite is “The All In Podcast” which is a mashup of politics, business, and technology and full of unique insights from brilliant minds that aren’t afraid to think independently and deviate from mainstream, herd-mentality fueled narratives.
Which talent would you most like to have? Singer in an 80’s rock cover band. I can play guitar and piano, but am not naturally musically gifted, so I am only mediocre and can’t really sing.
What is something people would be surprised to know about you? I can do a backflip on a wakeboard.
Which causes/nonprofits do you support? Mostly the Rainforest Foundation and other nature-oriented causes. The natural world is being decimated in our modern world and is in desperate need of help as we’re in the midst of a mass extinction event.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Sitting on a waterski boat at sunset during the summer, country music on the radio, a beer in my hand, and my kids on my lap, wrapped up in a towel after skiing.
What did you want to be when you were a child? A financial planner or a veterinarian. I always liked math and animals. I originally went to school at UC Davis to be a vet, but eventually switched to business.
What is your greatest fear? Death. It’s the ultimate problem in life that can’t be solved, only delayed.
What is your greatest extravagance? I’m pretty frugal and tend to prefer buying another share of River City Bank stock to indulging in a life of luxury. That said, I don’t hold back on fun vacations with the kids.
What is your current state of mind? Excited. There seem to be some looming issues within the commercial real estate and banking sectors caused by the high interest rate environment and the shock to the office sector of the work-from-home trend. River City Bank, with its extremely conservative loan portfolio and healthy financial position, is in an excellent position to really capitalize on any dislocations in the markets.
What was the best piece of business advice you were given when you were starting out? My father would always tell me, “Just do what’s right,” when I had a dilemma. We used to laugh about how ostensibly useless this generic advice was, but what he was really telling me was to take ownership of my own decisions, always behave ethically, and think independently rather than giving in to the pressure of often less-informed outside influences.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? What I’m going to do over the next 10 years.
