On the verge of retirement, Brice looks back on a career of building business relationships in Kern

Apr. 16—Between the time David Dobbs first talked with a lender about launching Imbibe Wine & Spirits Merchant and the day he came back in 2008 ready to buy a storefront along Truxtun Avenue, his bank's enthusiasm for his project had cooled considerably.

It was the start of the Great Recession, and lenders were backing away from risks they would have taken even a year prior. But then Dobbs had a conversation with Keith Brice, president of Bakersfield-based Mid State Development Corp.

As a certified development company licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Mid State was able to come in with about 40 percent of the project's total costs, which together with the 10 percent or so Dobbs was able to contribute in equity, allowed his bank to reduce its exposure to about 50 percent. It worked.

"Without Keith, my deal would've been dead," said Dobbs, who opened Imbibe at the building in March 2009.

Brice has done many transactions like that since taking over as head of Mid State in 2000. Just how big an influence he has been in the local business community is becoming clear now that he's planning to retire this year and the company's board of directors looks for someone to take the helm.

Chairman Anthony Olivieri said the board has been mulling the question of what it is about Brice that has propelled Mid State's success, with some $650 million in loans to small and medium-size businesses representing the creation of more than 5,400 jobs under Brice's leadership.

"Those are big shoes to fill," Olivieri said, "but I know we'll be able to find somebody to take to this opportunity and, hopefully do it with as much passion as Keith has."

It won't be easy. Brice has become known as an astute dealmaker with a deep understanding of the local business community and a knack for identifying people capable of building successful businesses.

For his part, Brice credits knowledge gained through experience. Having come to Bakersfield from Ohio in 1982 to work for what turned out to have been a troubled bank, he learned a lot about the community by becoming involved in local organizations and working closely with them to help meet their needs.

It has taught him to keep Mid State's focus local, even after it was permitted about a decade ago to seek business outside the county. The company has since done deals in other areas since then, but Brice said they were only done to help a Kern County-based company or an organization Mid State has worked with in Kern.

"Lend where you know," he said, adding later, "We're truly a Kern County-based CDC."

Mid State offers SBA-guaranteed loans for businesses trying to expand or are otherwise looking for real estate in which they plan to operate. It's not a bank, though there are some parallels. Mid State issues bonds called debentures, usually with a term of 10 to 25 years, secured by a second trust deed that gets sold to institutional investors.

The company had a loan portfolio totaling about $15 million when he took over as president. In the intervening two decades, it expanded to more than $100 million, though it has shrunk some to about $80 million since 2018, when Brice says conditions changed and, more recently, opportunities have contracted because of higher interest rates, inflation and a tight supply of properties for purchase by owner-occupants.

"Having said that, we're still doing projects," he said. "What we're seeing is when there is availability of product, we have a lot of business owners trying to jump on it as quickly as possible."

Olivieri said Mid State's board is interested in possibly expanding its portfolio by doing business outside Kern. But it hasn't forgotten Brice's advice about lending in unfamiliar markets.

If his successor has strong familiarity in areas like Fresno, Santa Clarita or Visalia, for instance, that could come in handy, Olivieri said. But there's no intention of taking on a major expansion across the state, he said.

"I think it's going to be on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Brice has a different sort of change in mind. After buying a piece of property on the Central Coast in 2009, he and his wife expect to move there once his successor is appointed, possibly in June, he said, but no later than this year.

Now at age 66, his plan is to keep active, probably by volunteering and interacting with others. He said maybe he'll drive a truck for a food bank.

"I want to connect with somebody I can help going forward, whether handing out cheese sandwiches in a park," Brice said. "I want to get back to giving back more to the community."

Dobbs said Brice could be hard to replace because of the special qualities that made him good at his job at Mid State. He's engaged, gentlemanly and connected with the community.

"I think his great gift is, he knows how to read people," Dobbs said. "It's an art. Some guys can see through the B.S. and other guys get sucked into the B.S."

"I've been fooled. I think we've all been fooled," he added. "I think Keith's been fooled less than most."

To Olivieri, dedicated to community and job creation are part of what has made Brice successful in Bakersfield. He embodies Bakersfield and wants to help people own their own property so they can grow their business.

"You have to be in tune with the local market, the local conditions, as well as being well-versed in loan underwriting and understanding finance," he said. "Not everybody's cut out for this."

Brice humbly plays down his specialness, saying "everybody's replaceable." He credited his accomplishments largely to the community in which he has worked and raised his two children.

"Despite what people may have a perception of, this is really a business-friendly, business relationship community," he said. "You can, whether start a business or get a new business, in my experience, there are a number of organizations, people, companies that will embrace the true entrepreneurial spirit. And I really see that in Kern County."