To say that Greg Flores has a family investment in banking and finance would be an understatement. His father was president of a San Diego bank, he has headed Flores Financial Services since 1982, his daughter is operations director of the company and his two sons hold executive positions a Silicon Valley bank and a San Diego marketing company.
“It’s all I knew, “Greg says. “It was the traditional family process. I already had my career.”
As that career unfolded, he turned to financial services with an entrepreneurial mindset and has played a major role in the development of growth of restaurants, from small family diners to larger multi-locations restaurateurs such as the immensely successful Cohn Restaurant Group. The company’s retail division focuses on the grocery industry, from local neighborhood markets to national chains like Sprouts Farmers Market.
Flores has strong connections to the growing east county city of Santee, where he went to high school and where his company is headquartered. He studied finance and business at Grossmont College in El Cajon, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Nevada, Reno.
But it is experience that counts most. After college, he spent 15 years in banking, including positions at First Interstate Bank of Nevada, People’s Bank of California, and North County Bank of San Diego. In 1995, he was recruited to join Lowell Business Services as vice president in 1995, and when the owner, Allen Lowell retired in 2002, Greg became the new Owner and President of the company, renaming the firm, Flores Financial Services.
Flores, 60, takes pride that the current customer base of more than 300 clients, mostly in the restaurant and retails sectors, comes primarily from referrals. The company has grown to include more than 100 team members providing industry leading services in accounting, payroll and human resources. The firm also has a consulting division that helps customers re-align their business operations and improve their bottom line.
Flores is a veteran member of Sage Executive Group and he credits the interaction with other CEOs “helping me sometimes remain focused” and “directing me in the right direction.” His daughter, Michelle Flores-Gonzales, who is operations director at Flores Financial, is also a Sage member.