Hayes Barnard
President
Hayes founded Paramount Equity with a passion to build great businesses with selfless people who are committed to saving their neighbors money. The first division of the company, Paramount Equity Mortgage, was founded in 2003 and quickly grew to over 300 employees serving customers in six states. To date, PEM has completed over $8 billion in loans making it one of the most successful mortgage banking and sales operations in the country. In 2006, Hayes launched Paramount Equity Insurance Services providing families with cost-effective home, auto, and life insurance policies. Paramount Energy Solutions was created in 2009 to help customers immediately reduce their energy bills, protect them from rising electricity costs, and preserve the environment by adopting renewable energy technologies.
Along the way, Hayes and Paramount Equity have both received accolades from the communities they serve. This year Hayes has been honored as one of Sacramento Business Journal's 40 under 40 and buildOn awarded Hayes the 2010 Global Impact Award. The company was also recognized as a New California 100 Innovative Business by Golden Capital Network and Hamilton Lane and was awarded first place for all large companies at the Sacramento Business Journal's "A+ Employers" awards. Hayes is a current active member of the Sacramento Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization and serves as the chair for the annual Sacramento Liquidity Event. He also serves on the board for the Positive Coaching Alliance.
Hayes graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Business Management and Marketing. He established his career in the Silicon Valley at Hitachi Data Systems before moving on to positions with Oracle Corporation. From 1995-2003, he worked in a variety of sales, management, and marketing capacities where he was responsible for Oracle's most strategic global accounts.
Matt Dawson
Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
As one of the owners and founders of the Paramount Equity, Matt has been responsible for launching many of the company's critical strategic initiatives. His gift for evaluating business opportunities and developing plans for capitalizing on them has allowed the company to thrive and grow.
Matt's passion for the environment and talent for business has put him at the head of the energy division at Paramount Energy Solutions.
Matt graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Finance and is a mortgage banking industry veteran with over 9 years of experience in this field. After graduating college he managed several mortgage banking branches throughout the mid-west. He subsequently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work for EMC Corp. Shortly thereafter, Matt and the other owners began designing plans to open a company aimed at helping homeowners save money. Matt is very proud of the company he and the team have built and looks forward to expanding into other complimentary industries in the near future.
Jason Walker
Vice President of Mortgage Banking
Jason is Paramount Equity's primary evaluator of mortgage business risk. His prudent decision-making has enabled the company to continue to thrive by avoiding many of the pitfalls that other mortgage companies have encountered over the last couple of years. Jason's focus on insuring that each customer receives the proper loan for their situation has been an invaluable asset to the company and its clients. He is also responsible for the secondary marketing of mortgage loans to help insure low rates and fees for the company's customers.
Jason graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Finance and Real Estate. He established a career in the mortgage and banking industry starting in loan origination and later working in sales and branch operations management roles. After eight years of working for mortgage companies in the mid-West, Jason moved to Sacramento to launch Paramount Equity Mortgage to provide an unprecedented level of professionalism and service he believed that customers deserved.
Michele Magee
Executive Vice President of Operations
Michele joined the Paramount Equity team in 2005 as the company's VP of Marketing where she built the company's in-house advertising agency. In addition to buying radio advertising in as many as 17 cities with nearly 185 radio stations at a given time, she and her team have established the company as a very successful new media advertiser utilizing search, content and lead generation strategies. The team has also produced TV campaigns, automated marketing systems, and various branding packages for Paramount Equity's new entities. She was responsible for implementing database technologies and building Paramount Equity's in-house telemarketing department, handles all public relations initiatives, and event management projects.
In 2006 and 2007, Michele added direct responsibility for the Human Resources, Asset Management, Business System/IT, Administrative Service, Recruitment, and Legal departments. In 2008, she launched the Home First sales divisions which serve the changing needs of the company's past customers.
Previous to joining the Paramount Equity team, Michele worked in radio sales and station management capacities for EZ Communications, American Radio Systems, and Infinity Broadcasting over a 15-year period. She's owned two companies including a chain of five retail franchise locations and a magazine publishing company. Michele graduated from the University of the Pacific with a BS in Business Administration and Marketing.
Bill Johnson
Vice President of Finance
Bill graduated from Northeastern University with a BA in Accounting. He started his career in the real estate development business and has been a VP of Finance for the past 15 years in the mortgage banking arena.
His decision in joining Paramount Equity was based on the company's vision to have a positive impact on the lives of its customers and its communities. The finance department's goal is to provide positive support to ensure that every transaction runs smoothly.
Eric Meadow
Vice President of Risk Management
Eric joined the team in 2009. Throughout his extensive experience in the mortgage industry with American Equity Mortgage, Eric held various roles including VP of Operations, COO, and General Counsel. He now serves as Paramount Equity's General Counsel and VP of Risk Management, and lends his expertise to policies and practices while promoting Paramount's vision.
Eric received his BA from Lake Forest College (Illinois), went on to achieve his JD cum laude from California Western School of Law, and pursued additional tax law studies at Georgetown University. Although Eric calls Chicago home, he's also lived in Atlanta, Detroit, New Mexico, San Diego, Washington, DC, and New Zealand. He and his wife Teresa, a New Zealand native, have a 7-year old son.
Paramount Equity was able to give us the complete package-refinance, solar and lowered our insurance rates. The entire transaction took under two weeks. Paramount Equity has staff that is very knowledgeable in all areas, insurance, mortgage and solar and they made it very easy for us. I would recommend them to all of my friends.”
