Mr. Hernandez joined California Southern SBDC as the Chief Credit Officer/Senior Vice President in May of 2018; And was appointed as President and CEO of the organization on January 2021. Prior to joining Cal-Southern, Hernandez was Chief Credit Officer of ACCION San Diego from September of 2014 and was responsible for lending staff supervision and training, program development, underwriting, loan portfolio quality and management, loss mitigation and recovery; and participating in the development of bank and community partner relations. Hernandez received a B.A. in Sociology, with an emphasis in Work Force Studies from University of Illinois at Chicago. He is originally from Mexico City; moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1977 and has resided in San Diego since July of 2012. Hernandez has over 30 years of experience in banking, including consumer, business and commercial real estate lending. Prior employment includes working with US Bank in San Diego California. In Chicago, he worked for Metropolitan Bank Group, La Salle Bank & Trust and The First National Bank of Chicago. He has been featured in various newspaper articles including The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Hernandez previously served as Chairman of the Board for the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.