In this episode, David Lykken interviews Steve Majerus, CEO of Synergy One Lending, who shares his journey of leading a management buyout during the pandemic and how he has navigated the challenges of the mortgage industry with a focus on strategic vision, innovation, and authentic leadership. Steve discusses the importance of adaptability, building a strong team, and embracing technology to stay competitive in a rapidly changing market. His leadership, characterized by humility and transparency, has not only guided Synergy One through turbulent times but also positioned the company for future growth by fostering a culture of resilience and innovation.

[David] Listeners you’re in for a real treat today. We’ve got Steve Majerus, who is the CEO of Synergy One Lending located in San Diego. Steve led in April of 2020, a management buyout of the company from Mutual of Omaha. Steve, I’m really interested in that part of your story. I want to get into that but Steve has also focused on strategic vision for the company. And you’re going to hear how he thinks about that and that’s one of the many reasons I wanted to invite Steve to the podcast, because listeners, there’s something about this man that grabbed my attention. He’s a leader and the way he leads is as much what grabbed my attention. But then there’s a level of humility that comes out. That’s just so delightful. So, Steve, welcome to the podcast. So excited to have you here,

[Steve] David, Thank you very much. I appreciate those kind words. And it’s great being here.

[David] Another reason for everyone to go to the Total Expert Accelerate Conferences that they have each year is they have outstanding speakers. Steve was one of them and he was featured on some things and I go, I need to get to know that man and it’s been a real honor to get to know you It’s a new beginning friendship and I hope it’s one that lasts longer, especially knowing that you have family that lives in my area. We’ll be hopefully seeing more of you. I want to get into sharing our listeners for those that don’t know you, Steve, I think it’d be valuable for them to just take us through your journey, to get you to where you’re at today as the CEO of Synergy One Lending.

[Steve] Yeah, I’ve having been in the industry for a long time. Obviously I’ve been exposed and had great opportunities presented to me over those years and I think one of the benefits and challenges of longevity in the business is you get exposed to a lot of personalities, a lot of different cycles in our in our industry that seemed to be always in the extreme and over time I’ve learned that the ability to adapt to those situations and learn from others along the way and ultimately thrive, I think are our key components, at least for, as long as I’ve been able to do this around 30 years and still standing.

[David] I have a bunch of other things I want to talk about, but when I read your bio and I heard that you led a management buyout, there’s so many companies that are people throwing in the towel, wanting exiting out and I am a real big fan of employees buying out. ESOPs, basically. I really am a fan of that exit strategy for owners. I think it’s a great thing. It honors the people that got the company to where it’s at and it really creates a wealth opportunity for all involved. Those exiting usually get a little bit better room, a better multiple typically, and those that are coming in have an upside and what they’ve already been working on.  Tell me a little bit about that story and how that came about.

[Steve] It is a very interesting one especially around the timing. We were fortunate enough to enjoy with former owners of Synergy One, and we had sold the company to Mutual of Omaha, and we were presented with an opportunity during that time period to take our retail division and all of our branches and in a really amicable way exit and so the strategy really turned out to be, to your point, really advantageous for us because it gave us an opportunity to invest alongside with many of our employees that were with us at Mutual of Omaha and when Aaron Niemec, our President and main partner in the business with me decided that we were going to do this and we provided that opportunity to many in the company. It’s very humbling to have people physically write checks to invest right alongside with you because implicit in that or explicitly, they’re putting their bet on you and themselves at the same time and that alignment obviously is priceless in creating not only the vision for the company, but the execution of that vision together. And obviously it. It has been challenging since then in many ways but the undying support that our employee investors and owners along with us during that time period has been just amazing because there have been a lot of pivot points and challenges obviously between the day we bought the company and brings us to today.

[David] I want to dive more into that story, but there’s so much about what I experienced when I met you that I want to share with our listeners. We may hit some mountain tops, we may not come back and dive into that one because there are a lot of people looking for an exit strategy that have been in the business done well, and they’re looking for the best one. And I think that one, again, is my favorite solution because everyone usually wins in those deals. Guild is a great story right there in your hometown, know those guys really well and I love those kinds of stories, but given the length of diversity you have experienced in the industry, what would you say are the most meaningful catalysts that have helped you form your vision for Synergy One today?

[Steve] I t’s always evolving but, as I pointed out earlier having been in the industry for 30 some years, I would point to a couple of things specifically, one is, My very first job in mortgage was to start a mortgage brokerage company in Los Angeles. The entrepreneurial bug a bit me early and Los Angeles where I grew up and so entrepreneurship and the challenges and the learnings that you get as a result of that obviously forms a basis for a lot of things as you continue to evolve, get older in life and get exposure to additional opportunities, that provided a great foundation, I think for a lot of things that came afterwards. I would say also that taking advantage of opportunities that you’re given. Making the most of each opportunity along the way to do the most with it i think is a key characteristic for anybody. Because it’s one thing to be provided the opportunity. It’s really taking advantage of those opportunities and doing the most with it and when you have people believing in you enough to give you those opportunities. You need to do right by them and follow through and take advantage of those things. I will tell you probably as well I joined a company called E-loan during the dot com boom and that was an eye opening experience as well because it was a very heady time, a very frothy time. I think they called it then, but again, the company went public, I got to participate in a senior level position in that. And again not all the learning was great, but it was learning nonetheless, that exposure, frankly, planted seeds for me about what technology could do in the early days of the internet, and how that would eventually evolve into consumer adoption of options on the internet. And obviously who knew what was to come much much later as the internet’s evolved in e-commerce and things like that, but that experience really planted a seed around technology for me because I hadn’t been exposed to it before then.

[David] It’s really true that technology is changing our landscape at a rate that’s just extraordinary. I tell everybody to read the book, The Coming Wave, my listeners are going to get tired of me, but until I know that they’ve read it, I’ll hound on that issue because AI and everything that’s fast evolving, we’re not going to recognize our world and we need to adapt and you clearly have that strategy, but the thing that has impressed me the most before I met you, I’ve had numerous conversations with different ones in your company. Some senior executives reached out to me. Getting my opinions on things and thoughts on things and I was so impressed with the caliber and the quality of the people that you have around you. Now I’m starting to get some more insights as to how you have been able to attract that, but what are the factors that go into attracting an amazing team like this?

[Steve] Again, I’ve been fortunate to having worked in Aaron Nemec in particular, Aaron and I worked together at a previous company and so we were able to establish a real foundation and mutual respect about our complimentary skill sets. I think people, when they know, if they know Aaron and they know me, I really draft on Aaron skillset around so many things because he’s just one of the most, if not the most transparent person that I’ve met in my life, much less in business and he and I have been able to not only cement that in our partnership with Synergy One, but also other previous experience with people has really when we’ve been together, been able to attract them and again, standing for something specific as a company and setting a clear direction so the people that they were getting into when they signed up with us is really important because if they buy it, if they understand it in the beginning, we articulate it correctly in the beginnin