When Donald M. Eaton (President and CEO) joined Argus Financial in June of 1992, he brought with him more than 20 years of institutional-quality income property experience and knowhow. Before joining Argus Financial, Don held the position of Senior Vice President at Mc Morgan & Company (1986-1992), a large Taft-Hartley pension fund investment advisor (now owned by New York Life), where he was in charge of all income property financing-related issues and transactions. Prior to that, Don was Vice President and Director of Property Sales at Landsing Corporation in Menlo Park (1983-1986), and Vice President of Real Estate Investment Banking at The Lomas & Nettleton Company, with responsibility for their northern California operation (1978-1983). Don also established a broad base of institutional real estate dealings during his six years working with real estate investments at Metropolitan Life and the Travelers Insurance Company in their respective San Francisco area offices (1973-1978).
Don has participated in all facets of income property dealings: lending, troubled property workouts, bankruptcies, foreclosures (inherited from other lenders’ mistakes), acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, leasing, asset management, mortgage banking and brokerage. Over the years, he has been integrally involved in quality real estate projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Don brings a track record of nearly 50 years of innovation, experience and credibility to each transaction.
A native of California, Don is a graduate of Brigham Young University (BA 1969; MBA 1973) and a Vietnam combat veteran. He has been a continuously licensed California Real Estate Broker (CA License #00658172) for nearly 50 years, and a past President of the Northern California Mortgage Bankers Association. He and his wife, Glenna, resided in San Carlos for 47 years where they raised four (now adult) children, and where he has served as a Planning Commissioner, and four-term elected member of the City Council and Mayor, serving San Carlos for nearly 40 years.
In the greater Bay Area community he also has served as the President of the Pacific Skyline Council of the Boy Scouts of America (including about 30 years on its Executive Board). Don is an Eagle Scout. Additionally Don has served on the Board of Directors of the Hiller Aviation Museum, and several other local and community committees, boards and commissions. He proudly founded the San Carlos Week of the Family for over 25 years. He was also an elected representative of San Mateo County’s cities at the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.
Don can be reached at 650-483-9294 or don@argus-financial.com.
Robert C. Sherrard (Vice President) joined Argus Financial following a successful 30-year career as a commercial real estate lender for various Silicon Valley banks.
Previously, he served 11 years as senior vice president and construction lending group manager at Greater Bay Bank, and with Mid-Peninsula Bank prior to its acquisition by Greater Bay. During Bob’s tenure at GBB, Bob was responsible for a portfolio of nearly $700 million, consisting of both construction and term debt. Before that, he served 13 years as a vice president and commercial/real estate lending officer with Pacific Western Bank, which later was acquired by Comerica Bank.
From 2007 thru 2012, Bob served in a similar capacity with City National Bank, serving as manager of Northern California and Nevada real estate, primarily focused on workouts and debt restructure while working with borrowers during the very difficult times that were the Great Recession.
In 2012, Bob returned to his community lending roots and was instrumental in establishing the commercial real estate lending presence at Technology Credit Union. Over the past five years, Tech CU has developed into a viable lending alternative in the Silicon Valley real estate market, with a portfolio of over $200 million in commitments.
Bob is active in the community and has served as chair of the City of East Palo Alto’s Planning Commission. He is an original founding board member of the Housing Trust of Silicon Valley, County (www.housingtrustsv.org), Vice Chair of the board of Project WeHope (www.projectwehope.org) an East Palo Alto-based non-profit providing services to the homeless, and is also on the board of Koinonia Conference Grounds, a non-denominational summer camp and conference center.
He is a past member of Opportunity Fund’s Real Estate Loan Committee, the Housing and Land Use Committee of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Sobrato Affordable Housing Fund.
A resident of East Palo Alto, Calif., Sherrard earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Santa Clara University and was the voice of Santa Clara University men’s basketball from 1983 to 2010.
Bob can be reached at 650-644-9158 or robert@argus-financial.com.
Gregory H. Hill (Vice President) joined Argus Financial in August of 2017, bringing with him more than 36 years of institutional-quality income property experience while working for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s Real Estate Investments Department. During his tenure at MetLife, Greg dealt with all of the major forms of commercial income properties, including office buildings, apartments, retail centers, industrial projects and hospitality properties in major metropolitan areas throughout the western United States.
Greg started at MetLife in 1981 in the joint venture and mortgage loan servicing department before moving into the joint venture development and leasing unit in the late 1980’s. When the recession occurred in the early 1990’s, Greg was actively involved with the commercial loan portfolio dealing with mortgage restructures, foreclosures and borrower bankruptcies. As the real estate markets recovered, Greg became involved with the production and underwriting of new commercial mortgage loans for the company. In 2002, he rotated back into the Equity Asset Management group where he became the team leader and Director for the regional real estate office overseeing new equity acquisitions and the asset management of an equity real estate portfolio valued at over $2.3 billion and involving over twenty – five properties located in Northern California, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest.
Greg’s most recent assignment rotated him back into to commercial mortgage loan underwriting in 2012, where he has closed over 20 new mortgage loans with a total principal balance of over $2.3 billion over the last five years.
Greg is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area having grown up in the East Bay cities of Lafayette and Orinda, before settling down with his wife Joan in San Carlos in 1987 to raise their son and daughter. Greg received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley followed by his MBA degree with a specialization in Finance and Real Estate also from UC Berkeley. Greg is an avid fisherman and sports fan and enjoys hiking, skiing and other outdoor activities at Lake Tahoe with his family. He also continued the family scouting tradition being in the middle of three generations of Eagle Scouts.