Benjamin Leonard

Benjamin Leonard(opens in new window), who graduated with a BA in Economics in 2009, is director of secondary marketing at Commerce Home Mortgage(opens in new window) in San Francisco, California.  His “day to day responsibilities include managing a loan scenario desk, product development/integration/ training, and lock desk manager,” according to his LinkedIn page(opens in new window).

During part of his junior year at Chico State Benjamin worked as a rental service and ski technician at Northstar Tahoe Ski Resort(opens in new window). He worked for Heavenly Ski Resort(opens in new window) during part of his senior year. Benjamin was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity and on the Dean’s List for BSS(opens in new window).  After graduation Benjamin accepted a position as director of secondary marketing for Commerce Home Mortgage where he is currently working. 

 “When I graduated in 2009, the ‘Great Recession’ was severely limiting job opportunities for new entrants to the workforce,” Benjamin stated in a recent email. “Studying Economics at CSU Chico provided me with an in-depth understanding of Macroeconomics, Federal Reserve Policy, and Bond Market theory – all of which is essential for a career in mortgage finance. Given my newly acquired knowledge, I was able to quickly secure gainful employment working for a mortgage bank in the Secondary Marketing department. Secondary Market departments are responsible for managing large pipelines of floating interest rate commitments for home loans that are hedged using fixed income securities. Today, I’m the Director of Secondary Marketing for a mortgage company producing over a billion dollars annually in loan production. Earning my Economics degree from CSU Chico was undoubtedly the key to entering into, and succeeding within, the mortgage banking industry.”  (Last Updated 10/20/18)