Republic State founder retiring, sells his majority stake

The founder and CEO of Republic State Mortgage, Robert Wagnon, has sold his controlling interest in the Houston-based company to Andrina Valdes, the CEO of Temul Capital and Alta Home Lending.

Wagnon is retiring from the mortgage business and Valdes purchased his 75% stake.

Paulina McGrath remains with Republic State as president, chief financial officer and is the other shareholder in the company. This makes Republic State a woman-owned and mostly woman-led mortgage company, McGrath noted in an interview.

In addition, McGrath is the vice president of the Community Home Lenders of America.

A trademark application for Alta Home Lending was filed in December 2024. According to Nationwide Multistate Licensing System data, the name was formerly associated with Service First, which for an eight-month stint starting last August through March, Valdes was the CEO, her LinkedIn profile said.

Service First remains a separate company with no common ownership.

Since the transaction closed on April 11, Alta Home has been a "doing business as" name under Republic State's licensing.

Valdes has been the CEO of Temul Capital since January 2023, the LinkedIn profile said. She has more than 26 years of leadership in the mortgage industry.

"I am thrilled to be blending the Alta Home Lending team into the Republic family as their reputation for excellence and deep community relationships aligns perfectly with my mission to elevate the lending experience while keeping people at the heart of every decision," Valdes said in a press release. "Going forward, we believe we have achievable plans to expand Republic's reach into new markets — doubling our size both in terms of employees added and customers served."

Currently, Republic State has between 85 and 90 employees, and is onboarding another 20 right now. In the next month to six weeks, it will add approximately 60 more, McGrath said. Those totals include the Alta team that Valdes is bringing over.

Republic State originated around $402 million in 2024. "At our height, obviously during the pandemic, we were at $1.4 billion," McGrath noted.

With the added employees, "based on our projections, we are anticipating we will double our volume by the end of the year," McGrath said.

Prior to the creation of Temul, Valdes, along with her husband Manuel Valdes, were executives at Cornerstone Home Lending, now known as Cornerstone Community Bank; Cornerstone filed suit against Manuel Valdes in January 2023 and he made a counterclaim alleging discrimination in May of that year.

The case is currently before the 11th District Court in Harris County, Texas.

Republic State has landed in the National Mortgage News Best Mortgage Companies to Work for listings since the program was launched in 2019. The company, once a one-person shop in Houston, now lends in 14 states.

"I am grateful to pass the reins to Andrina who, along with the talented team she is bringing on board, will continue to uphold the high standards that have become synonymous with Republic," Wagnon said in a press release. "I am also thankful that Paulina, my partner for the last 26 years, will remain on board, with our existing leadership team, to shepherd this next phase of the company's growth."