A lot has come and gone since 1989, not First Financial Network.
In 1989, we watched Driving Miss Daisy win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and we fell in love with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. Paula Abdul had three top 40 hits, Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball and the Berlin Wall came down.
And that same year, our founder, Bliss Morris, started First Financial Network, a woman-owned small business enterprise that would become the world’s thought leader in the loan sale advisory space. Her experience was gained at the ground floor of the industry, as part of the FDIC’s first asset sales group. Also in 1989, the Resolution Trust Corporation was formed to liquidate the mass of loans and other assets resulting from the historic U.S. Banking and S&L Crisis.
With all the change in the world, there’s something to be said about a group of people who have figured out what works.
We didn’t know how much the world would change in 1989, but we can see now how much has come and gone over the last 30 years, how many landmark moments would challenge and inspire us, how much technology would change the way we do business and how we communicate with customers like you, and how different things would look from what they were back then. We certainly would not have imagined patenting custom software products, launching virtual deal rooms, having servers in the Cloud or helping to resolve the Global Financial Crisis. Nor could we envision an unprecedented global pandemic, COVID-19, that would threaten everything that we hold most dear and dislocate the world’s economy, but here we are.
With all the changes in the world, there is something to be said about a group of people who have figured out what works in their core competency. With all the fluctuations in the market, it is pretty special that First Financial Network is the go-to advisor for the preparation, valuation, marketing and sale of commercial, residential, agricultural and consumer loans. We are pioneers, then and now, with 2019’s sales of over $1.93 billion in commercial real estate and C&I loan sales, $2.65 billion in residential loan sales and $147 billion in loan valuations. Our business now includes global loan and REO sales and an industry-leading loan valuation practice.
Long-story short: We are very proud to still be here and to still be leading the way after all these years. We wanted to give ourselves a little birthday shoutout, sure, but we really wanted to take this opportunity to tell you just how grateful we are for your trust, your business and your friendship. We could not do this without you.
Thank you.
Here’s to the next 30 years:
May they be even better for all of us.