John Penrith started his career in 1988 at the old San Diego Trust & Savings. After almost two decades, he’s now chief lending officer at the new San Diego Trust, which has raced to more than $70 million in assets in less than two years.

Penrith is in charge of local loan production and deposit growth. As de novo banks typically desire rapid growth, Penrith is looking to get deals approved. The de novo bank also must avoid making bad loans, often the bedrock responsibility of the chief credit officer. Do worlds collide?

“I will look at the deal first,” says Penrith. “Then it goes to Joe Simmons, the chief credit officer. He’s the first step.” Later, the deal must clear a management committee with board input. “We haven’t had any conflict. Joe is very much part of the team, and we pretty much see things together. There’s never been a case where I was very staunchly in favor of a deal and he point blank said ‘no’ to it. It would be more like he’d convince me of the error of my ways in looking at the deal, or vice versa.”

The hot lending market is condo conversions, but Penrith says banks “need to be specific about what type of product you’re going after and the price point. There’s a lot of condo conversion activity in Downtown, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Golden Hill, as well as new construction Downtown, new homes and loft conversions.”

The key factors in condo conversion deals are borrowers who “understand the process and follow through the city housing board with what can and can’t be done,” Penrith explains. “People want to tie up these condo conversion properties prior to having a condo map; I don’t look at projects that don’t have maps. There is always the risk that the project wouldn’t generate enough cash flow as an apartment building.”

After San Diego Trust & Savings merged into First Interstate, Penrith went to Scripps Bank and opened its Kearny Mesa office. After Scripps’ merger with US Bank, Penrith followed fellow Scripps alum and current CEO Mike Perry over to San Diego Trust.

Penrith’s father was the CEO of a Chicago bank, and says the chief officer job is “something I always envisioned myself to be at some point.”