Steven A. Sugarman

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Steven A. Sugarman

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Of Counsel
Banking & Financial Services
Corporate, M&A, Securities & Real Estate

Los Angeles

Bar & Court Admissions

  • State Bar of California

Education

  • Yale Law School, J.D.
  • Dartmouth College, B.A.

Steven Sugarman is Of Counsel in M&R’s Los Angeles office, where he serves clients within the Banking and Financial Services industries.

Beyond his work at the firm, Mr. Sugarman is also the Founder of The Change Company (www.ChangeLLC.com), a Community Development Financial Institution certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury and State of California to expand access to lending and banking to Black, Latino and low-income borrowers and communities.

Mr. Sugarman is the Founder of Banc of California (NYSE: BANC) as well, and he served as the Board Chair, Chief Executive Officer and President until 2017. Under his leadership, Banc of California was recognized by Forbes as one of the Top Banks in America and Fortune Magazine as one of the country’s Fastest Growing Companies. For its part, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for Community Development has hailed Banc of California as the largest independent bank in the state, giving it an outstanding rating. Of note, Mr. Sugarman pioneered Banc of California’s extensive community-oriented financial literacy program, and in 2014, alongside President Bill Clinton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he helped to set two Guinness World Records for the world’s largest financial literacy event.

In 2011, Mr. Sugarman led the recapitalization of COR Clearing (a securities clearing firm) and served as its Board Chair and the Chief Executive Officer of its holding company until its successful sale to Axos Bank in 2019. Further, Mr. Sugarman is the Founder and Managing Member of COR Capital LLC and was a Founding Partner of GPS Partners LLC, a $2 billion investment advisory firm.

More recently, from 2017 to 2020, Mr. Sugarman served as General Counsel of the National Diversity Coalition. Currently, he is a board member of Los Angeles Team Mentoring (LATM), an organization that honored him with the prestigious LATM Keystone Award back in 2014. Other awards bestowed upon Mr. Sugarman include a 2015 Giraffe Award for public service and community development leadership given by the National Asian American Coalition and the National Diversity Coalition; the Outstanding CEO Award from the Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in 2015; and the Bayanihan Award in 2017 as part of The Outstanding Pilipinos Awards.

In addition to being a member of the California State Bar, Mr. Sugarman is a California Real Estate Broker. He began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and later worked at Lehman Brothers. A graduate of Yale Law School and Dartmouth College, Mr. Sugarman co-authored The Forewarned Investor: Don’t Get Fooled Again by Corporate Fraud, published by Career Press.

Mr. Sugarman is the Founder of Banc of California (NYSE: BANC) as well, and he served as the Board Chair, Chief Executive Officer, and President until 2017.

Also, he is a board member of the Los Angeles Team Mentoring (LATM).

  • Under his leadership, Banc of California was recognized by Forbes as one of the Top Banks in America and Fortune Magazine as one of the country’s Fastest Growing Companies
  • LATM Keystone Award, Los Angeles Team Mentoring (LATM) in 2014
  • 2015 Giraffe Award for public service and community development leadership, National Asian American Coalition, and the National Diversity Coalition
  • Outstanding CEO Award, Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in 2015
  • Bayanihan Award in 2017, Outstanding Pilipinos Awards