Ethan Penner
Ethan Penner is an innovator, a systems builder, and a change agent who has always been drawn to bringing solutions to large voids. He is known as the father of modern-day real estate finance, having revolutionized that industry in the 1990’s when traditional lenders had all abandoned the industry. Dubbed “The Rock ‘n Roll Banker” by the Wall Street Journal, he is credited with creating the trillion-dollar Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities industry. From a standing start he built the then largest real estate financier in U.S. history.
He has been an adjunct professor for the past decade at USC’s and Pepperdine’s graduate business schools, where he taught a class he created that introduced the interconnectivity of all things from the perspective of the financial markets. He is the author of Greatness is a Choice (Wiley 2023) and Awareness in Prayer (MVHL 2025) and publishes his bi-weekly Friday Five wherein he shares his top societal observations with his audience.
Ethan is running as an independent candidate for California’s governorship. The main theme of Ethan’s campaign includes inspiring great efforts by reviving the American dream of social mobility and rewarding ambition and hard work. This principal informs his ideas about taxation, education, energy, and homelessness.
Ethan is married to former Venezuelan professional athlete Marisol Teran Penner. They have five children, including three who were born in California and two adopted sons, one from Ethiopia and one from Venezuela.
