Although Kelly Rentzel did not emerge from the Fourth of July weekend with a tan, she did begin the shortened workweek with a new job title: general counsel of First Foundation Inc.
Rentzel now leads the legal department of the California-founded financial services company, which is finalizing its move to its new Dallas headquarters on the 14th floor of The Crescent’s middle building at the end of this month. First Foundation began as a wealth management advisory firm but grew its operations to include banking about 13 years ago and now has 21 branches, Rentzel said.
For the last nine years, Rentzel has been at Texas Capital Bank, and had spent her last four years there as general counsel. Rentzel’s departure from Texas Capital follows a volatile year for the bank that included a failed merger with Independent Bank, the departure of Texas Capital’s longtime chief executive officer, Keith Cargill, and the arrival of two more CEOs since.
Rentzel is undergoing a sense of déjá vu as she settles into her new role; First Foundation is entering a period of growth much the same as Texas Capital was when Rentzel joined. After it closes its merger with the holding company of First Florida Integrity Bank, First Foundation will have a little more than $9 billion in assets, which is the same size Texas Capital was when Rentzel started there in 2012. Rentzel is the only lawyer in First Foundation’s legal department, just as she was when she started at Texas Capital, but once again there will likely be opportunities to grow it.
“The CEO [of Texas Capital] has said that the bank needs to turn itself around to give itself an opportunity to grow again, and I had an opportunity to go ahead and grow in a new and different way,” Rentzel told The Texas Lawbook. “I thought it would be more challenging and fulfilling to take on a new opportunity. This was a chance to grow again but in a different way, with a different group, with a different expertise.”
Rentzel said she is not sure who will fill her shoes at Texas Capital, but Erica Dorsett is serving as interim GC.
When the position opened at First Foundation, Rentzel said it was a rare opportunity because most smaller banks of First Foundation’s size do not see the need to have their own GC.
“These jobs do not come up very often,” Rentzel said, but when they do, “a job like this gives you a lot of great lawyer experience,” including M&A work, contracts and litigation.
“You get the full gamut of in-house possibilities,” she said.
And while she admits that it was the geography of First Foundation’s branches that first caught her eye (the “beach bank,” as she nicknamed it, has a branch in Honolulu, Hawaii), Rentzel said she was incredibly impressed with the company after she began studying the earnings calls, investor decks and the executives.
“I was blown away by how advanced First Foundation is from a data use and understanding perspective,” Rentzel said. “They know who their clients are, what their ages are, where they live. They know what those people are interested in and they know how to appeal to those clients.”
Rentzel was also very impressed by First Foundation’s CEO, Scott Kavanaugh, who she described as a “very client centric” and “efficient manager” who is energized and knows the space well. Because, as of now, most of First Foundation’s other executives plan to stay in California, Rentzel will work closely with Kavanaugh, who has relocated to Texas.
“I’m really looking forward to learning from him,” Rentzel said of Kavanaugh. “It’s a very rare opportunity for the GC to be in the office with the CEO and not too many other executives right there, so I’m looking forward to being helpful to him.”
Plus, with the Florida acquisition, First Foundation will truly be a coast-to-coast financial services firm.
“My mom makes fun of me since I don’t tan I just burn… this is the antithesis of where she’d think I’d be excited to go,” Rentzel said. “I told her I like the beach at night. And, beaches aside, it’s going to be fun to watch this place grow.”