Dave Drogos
President, CEO

Dave joined BFI® in 1983 and has served as its President and CEO since 2000. Over the years, Dave has been instrumental in the growth and development of BFI and has created many of the policies and procedures that are in practice today. Prior to joining BFI®, Dave was an auditor/account executive at Commercial Credit Business Loans, specializing in middle-market asset based lending.

Dave received his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Arizona. Dave has served on the Board of Directors for the Northern California Chapter of the Commercial Finance Association, having served as its Vice President. Additionally, he is a past president of the St. Christopher Holy Name Society. An article about BFI® by Silicon Valley Biz Ink discusses Dave's perspective on business lending during difficult times.

Jeff Johnson
Executive Vice President

Jeff joined BFI® in 1991 and serves as its Executive Vice President. Jeff is involved in all aspects of loan origination and new business development and manages BFI's sales team.

Jeff received his B.S. in Business Marketing from San Jose State University. Jeff has served on the Board of Managers for the Central YMCA and is a past board member of the Northern California Chapter of the Commercial Finance Association as well as a member of the Turnaround Management Association.

Jeffrey Lizar
Senior Vice President
Credit Officer & Loan Underwriting

Jeffrey joined BFI Business Finance® in July of 2010 and serves as Senior Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager & Loan Underwriting. Jeffrey is involved in all aspects of operations including loan workout, credit analysis, and day-to-day management of credit, together with managing new loan origination and underwriting. Jeffrey has been an asset-based lender for the past 20 years with most of his career spent in the credit origination, management, and workout of asset-based loans. For the past eleven years, Jeffrey has been actively involved in the management of Business Alliance Capital Company (BACC became the ABL division of Sovereign Bank in 2005) as the Western Division Credit Manager. His role at BACC included underwriting and closing new business loans, as well as the day-to-day management of the credit, audit, and operations staff. Prior to starting BACC, Jeffrey was employed by various finance companies including Fremont Business Credit, Austin Financial Services, and Fidelcor Business Credit Corporation.

Jeffrey is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Finance.

Gretchen Wile
Senior Vice President
San Francisco Region

Gretchen joined BFI® in 2002 and serves as a Vice President covering business development in Northern California. Prior to joining BFI®, Gretchen was Assistant Vice President of Origination for GE Capital Business Credit. Gretchen started her career in 1996 as an Assistant Business Development Officer at Heller Financial. In 1997, Gretchen joined Union Bank of California as Assistant Vice President of Underwriting.

Gretchen received a B.A. in Finance from St. Mary's College. Gretchen served on the board for the Association for Corporate Growth and is past President and Chairman of the Board for the Northern California Chapter of the Commercial Finance Association.

Robert Gonzalez
General Counsel

Robert joined BFI in 2008 and serves as its General Counsel overseeing all legal and documentation matters, together with having active involvement in new business and underwriting matters. Prior to that, Robert worked for Business Alliance Capital Company as Senior Vice President handling legal, underwriting and account management functions. Robert served as outside legal counsel to various lending institutions for over 14 years, while employed by law firms such as Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and Buchalter, Nemer. Robert began his career with The CIT Group/Credit Finance as a legal assistant and assistant account executive while concurrently pursuing a law degree.

Robert received his B.S. in Finance from the University of Southern California and his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law.

Jody Hansen
Vice President & Manager
Loan Documentation

Jody joined BFI® in 1997 and serves as Vice President, Loan Documentation Manager. Jody began her career in banking and finance in 1980 working in various aspects of bank operations, including commercial loan documentation and processing. Prior to joining BFI®, Jody worked for Plaza Bank of Commerce, Cupertino National Bank, and later Comerica Bank-California where she was an Assistant Vice President in the Loan Services Department.

Macy Saechao
Vice President
Loan Underwriting

Macy joined BFI® in 1999 and serves as an Underwriter for new business transactions and Auditor existing portfolio clients. Over the years, Macy has worked in various capacities for BFI and previously served as the Assistant Controller.

Macy received her B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Cal State Fresno.

Liza Lummis
Executive Assistant
New Business Department

Liza joined in BFI® 1986 and serves as Executive Assistant for the New Business Department. Over the years, Liza has worked in various areas including customer relations, operations, and loan documentation. Liza currently works in Underwriting/Loan Documentation where she is involved in all aspects of loan closing including audit preparation, due diligence, legal documentation, and loan funding.

Steve Darlington
Vice President
Portfolio Manager

Steve joined BFI® in 2000 and serves as Vice President, Portfolio Manager. Steve came to BFI from Kaiser Permanente's IT Division where he managed the accounts receivable system for California. Steve started his career in asset based lending as an Account Executive for Commercial Credit Business Loans and for Commonwealth Financial. Steve has also served as Controller and CEO for several manufacturing companies.

Steve received his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting, from California State University, Sacramento.

Jugdeep Nijjar
Vice President
Audit Manger

Jugdeep joined BFI® in 1998 and serves as its Vice President, Audit Manager. Jugdeep is involved in all aspects of Operations including credit analysis and client services.

Jugdeep received his B.S. in Business Management from the University of California, Riverside.

Richard ("Dick") Gilbert
New Business Development Consultant
Credit Officer & Loan Underwriting

Richard joined BFI® in 2001 and has served as a Vice President covering business development in Southern California. As of February of 2010, Richard has officially retired from his post and is now serving as a new business development contract consultant for the Southern California region.

Prior to joining BFI®, Richard was Senior Vice President of Sales for Summit Financial Resources. Richard began his career in 1969 as a Vice President of Sales at Community Bank's Industrial Finance Department. Richard has worked with various companies in the industry including National Acceptance Company of California (1975), Sanwa Business Credit (1987), Foothill Capital (1993), KBK Financial (1996) and Summit Financial Resources (1999).

Richard currently serves on the Board of Trustees of San Antonio Community Hospital located in Upland, California. Richard has served as a director and past chairman of the Commercial Finance Conference of California (West Coast Chapter of the CFA). Richard has also served on the Boards of the Commercial Finance Association, Pacific Coast Machinery Dealers Association, Machinery Dealers National Association, and several fraternal organizations. In 2003 Richard was honored by the Commercial Finance Conference of California with their first Lifetime Achievement Award (pdf).