Danny Yates

I graduated early from High School and went to Mesa College for a couple of years to get my AA degree (General Ed) before transferring to San Diego State University.

I worked late afternoon and evenings in the dungeon of Bank of America's central cash vault which was a great college job and served to influence me to become a banker.

After graduating from SDSU with a degree in Finance I moved to Los Angeles and entered a bank management training program that I thought would have me back in San Diego in 17 months.

It turned out to be 17 years in L.A. before I eventually made it back home. Moving to Los Angeles was a great growth experience and it was during those years in L.A. that my banking career flourished as I focused on helping entrepreneurs grow their companies with advice sprinkled in here and there drawing from my street smarts, education, and life experience.

Eventually I became an entrepreneur myself and helped co-found a bank in my home town which was a long time career goal finally achieved.

I have three handsome young sons from a prior marriage and have somewhat recently remarried....my wife, Claudia, is a CHEK Practioner focused on health, fitness, and personal training....she is doing her best to help me Get and Stay Fit so I can enjoy the rest of the journey that awaits me.

I remember driving down skyline drive, and I flipped the bird at a car that was hogging both lanes and refusing to let me pass. The driver got ticked off and radioed his buddies. Next thing I know I am being chased by a seven low-riders while driving my Dodge Dart (ugly car)...the low-riders had me far outnumbered and eventually surrounded my car, the guys jumped out and hit me in the head with a chain that was wrapped around their hands...I literally saw stars just like in the cartoons....all the while this was occuring a San Diego Police Officer looked on at what was going down and stayed on the sidelines. I concluded he was too afraid to get involved because just a few days earlier a similar group of low riders had shot and murdered a SD police officer in a routine traffic stop....I certainly toughened up with experiences like these (too numerous to mention) and fortunately as a result learned how to survive during high school. I don't really look back at high school as a place of fond memories but more as a place that taught me street smarts that I still draw upon today to help me succeed in business, especially when the odds are stacked against me. My motto is failure and quitting is not an option!

I have only made it to Europe once and would like to travel to more countries and visit different parts of the world.