Lima One CFO Named Rising Stars in Real Estate

Josh Woodward’s rise to chief financial officer of the residential and commercial lender Lima One Capital started with a call out of the blue eight years ago, from someone he met by chance at a restaurant several years before that.

That someone was John Warren, a decorated US Marine and Iraq War veteran who was looking to expand his company that specialized in short-term loans for real-estate investors. The fix-and-flip industry was recovering from effects of the last financial crisis, and financing from companies like Lima One would play an increasingly bigger role.

Woodward — then in Bank of America’s corporate-finance group in Charlotte, North Carolina — jumped at Warren’s job offer, which was for someone to take on treasury duties and be an analyst.

“I really see myself as a builder,” Woodward, 33, said. “What gets me excited is when I see a set of problems and approach them in a way that is entrepreneurial and that gives me autonomy to partner with the right people.”

Under Woodward and the team led by CEO Jeff Tennyson, the lender’s loan originations accelerated. Cumulative volume topped $3 billion earlier this year, making the company an attractive acquisition target for MFA Financial, a real-estate investment trust focused on mortgages.

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