Management Team

L. Don Stricklin

Chairman

Don Stricklin is the former President and CEO of State Bank and Texas United Bancshares in La Grange, Texas. Texas United grew from $80 million in 1997 to over $1.8 billion in assets with 41 locations prior to their merger with Prosperity Bancshares in February, 2007. Texas United operated under four subsidiaries: State Bank, GNB, Gateway National Bank and Northwest Bank.

Before joining Texas United in 1996, Don was Senior Vice President with Bank One Mortgage in Dallas. Before that he served in several management positions with Bank One in the community bank division including President and CEO of Bank One, Abilene.

Don was a National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and received his commission in 1985.

He is a former director of The Independent Bankers Bank (TIB) in Irving, and was recently named one of the finalists competing for the Stevie Award as Best Executive at the 2005 American Business Awards in New York City. In addition, State Bank was also competing for Best Overall Company.

In July 2006, Texas United Bancshares announced the merger with and into Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. Don served on the Prosperity Bank board until joining Far West Capital.

Don holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas State University, 1981.

Cole Harmonson

President & CEO

Cole Harmonson is president and CEO of Far West Capital "FWC." Prior to life at FWC, Cole was the founder and senior vice president of State Bank's Working Capital Finance Group "WCFG," the asset based lending and factoring division of State Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas United Bancshares, Inc., a publicly held Texas commercial banking company headquartered in La Grange, Texas.

Cole joined State Bank in December of 1996 to start the WCFG where he managed the business until the sale to Prosperity Bank in February 2007. Prior to joining State Bank in 1996, Cole was vice president at The National Bank of Texas in Fort Worth, Texas and has been employed in community banking his entire career. Cole holds a BBA in Finance from Texas Tech University where he graduated in 1993.

Mr. Harmonson resides in Pflugerville, Texas with his wife and two boys. Active in the community, he is a board member of the central Texas chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, member of International Factoring Association, member of the Association for Corporate Growth and member of the Commercial Finance Association.

Brian Center

Executive Vice President & COO

Brian Center is the EVP and Chief Operating Officer for Far West Capital. Prior to joining the Far West team, Brian was the co-owner and President of Comresco Capital, LLC. Comresco was a factoring company founded in 2002 and sold to Bibby Financial in 2007.

Brian's passion for working with small business's and helping them grow, evolved into Brian serving his clients not only as a source for working capital, but as importantly creating a value added consultative affiliation with his clients.

Prior to 2002, Brian served in a number of senior management roles in the commercial finance and banking industry.

Brian graduated from Texas Tech University in 1983 with a BBA in Economics.

Jennifer Royal

Vice President

Jennifer is Vice President, at Far West Capital serving the Austin and San Antonio markets. Jennifer’s sales background and her expertise in cultivating referral relationships are key in her role as Vice President.  Her focus will be on developing and strengthening referral relationships as well as working with new and prospective Far West clients.     

Jennifer came to Far West from Allied Affiliated Funding in Dallas, Texas where she started her career in Factoring.  She has over 15 years of sales and marketing experience.  Jennifer was employed by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), one of the world’s largest providers of business outsourcing solutions for employers. At ADP, Jennifer served as a District Sales Manager and was responsible for building and developing relationships with bankers and CPAs in the DFW market to establish a referral network. During her 1 1⁄2 years there, she performed business-to-business sales and built solid customer relationships.

Prior to working at ADP, Jennifer was employed for the previous 13 years by Palm Harbor Homes, Country Place Mortgage. There, she developed finance products and programs for distribution nationwide. Jennifer worked in a variety of roles, ultimately serving as the National Sales and Marketing Director. She managed a sales team, and she earned the award for Top Sales Person every year consecutively from 1999 through 2006.

Mary Rettig

Senior Vice President & Regional Manager

Mary is Senior Vice President, Regional Manager at Far West Capital. Her responsibilities include sourcing, underwriting, structuring, closing and managing client relationships. She will focus efforts in the DFW Market. Prior to joining the Far West team, Mary was Senior Vice President and a member of the founders group at Opportunity Bank in Richardson, Texas.

A banker all of her adult life, Mary has held positions including Operations Manager-Cashier, Senior Auditor, Senior Commercial Lender at First Interstate Bank and it's predecessor, Allied Bank of Texas.

In 1992 Mary's factoring/asset based lending career began at Richards Capital Corporation in Dallas and included 10 + years at Accord Financial and it's predecessor JTA Factors. From 2005 until it's sale to Prosperity Bank, Mary worked with the team in the Working Capital Finance Group at State Bank.

Active in the community, Mary has held positions including President, Regional Director - Zonta International, Director - Our Friends Place (Home for troubled girls), President, Bank Administration Institute, American Institute of Banking - President & Director, Bootstrap Ranch (Home for troubled boys) - Director, Texas Woman's University - Executive Advisory Board, Red Rock Water Company - Director & Treasurer.Publications include a 12 month series entitled "How to Start Your Own Business"," Factoring" and Managing Cash Flow. She has been published many Texas based business publications.

Mary believes that her greatest asset is her ability to communicate with and understand entrepreneurs and to find financial solutions to their challenges.