The Management Team

Meet the Lantern Financial Team

Lantern Financial, Inc. is a licensed California real estate mortgage lender with offices in Sherman Oaks, California.

It is our goal to meet the needs of qualifying borrowers with the investment objectives of seasoned trust deed investors.

Stephen Leidner
President

Mr. Leidner began his professional career in 1969 working for a Specialist Broker on the New York Stock Exchange. He quickly became an arbitrage clerk buying and selling convertible bonds on the floor of the Exchange.

In 1972 he left Wall Street to go into the Real Estate business. In 1976 he started his own construction company building single family homes on Long Island.

He came to California in 1980 and went to work for Home Budget Loans and in 1982 received his broker’s license. During the 13 years he spent at Budget he was consistently the top producing Loan Officer and trained and mentored several other Loan Officers.

After a change in ownership in 1993 Mr. Leidner left Budget and opened Lantern Financial, a private money mortgage company.

Mr. Leidner is a Patron Supporter of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Tolerance, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Food on Foot, the Ovarian Cancer Coalition, The Guardians and several other charitable and cultural programs.

He has been the recipient of several awards and Certificates of Appreciation from the California Mortgage Association where he has served three terms as Vice-president and an unprecedented two terms as President.

Mr. Leidner continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the California Mortgage Association and has chaired several committees and worked on countless others.

The Department of Real Estate as well as private litigators have retained Mr. Leidner as an expert witness in the patterns and practices of private money mortgage lending.

Kenneth A. Carmona
Executive Vice President

Kenneth A. Carmona, has over 25 years experience in mortgage lending and foreclosure processing.

His past employment positions include, Executive Vice President of PacificAmerica Money Center, Executive Vice President of Presidential Mortgage Company, Executive Vice President of Pacific Thrift and Loan Association, President of Consolidated Reconveyance Company (CRC), President of Consolidated Reconveyance Company of Washington (CRCWA), and President of Lenders Posting and Publishing Company (LPPC).

Mr. Carmona received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance with a Real Estate Specialty in 1980 from California State University, Northridge. He is a California Licensed Real Estate Broker. He has been involved with loan workouts, loan sales, loan purchases and has orchestrated many bulk sale and acquisitions over the years with institutional lenders and the FDIC.

As President of Consolidated Reconveyance Company, he was involved with the processing of over 30,000 foreclosures and dealt with countless litigation issues that arose from the foreclosure action. In 1998 he sold the Consolidated Reconveyance Companies (CRC, CRCWA, LPPC) to Chicago Title and Trust Company where he had a management agreement which expired in December of 2000.

In December of 2001, Ken joined Lantern Financial Corporation. His primary purpose was to bolster loan production, increase efficiencies, establish new lines of credit and assist with the management of the company. In February of 2003, Ken became a partner in the firm.

Ken is active in the community; he is presently on the Dean’s Counsel of Business Advisors at California State University, Northridge. He is the past Chairman of the Board and a past Director for the Morrison Ranch Homeowners Association and a past Director of LASHA, Los Angeles Sephardic Home for the Aging.

Other Director positions included, a past Director of the California Trustee Association, past Director of the California Association of Thrift and Loan Companies and a past Director of PacificAmerica Money Center.

J. Martin Furtak
Vice President

J. Martin Furtak joined Lantern Financial in August of 2004 with over 24 years of banking experience.

He was formerly with Community Commerce Bank as vice president of real estate where he excelled in business development and loan production and was one of the top loan producers for over fifteen years.

His banking career started with Household Finance with their accelerated management program and moved to Community Commerce Bank where he became a loan officer, assistant branch manager, branch manager, and vice president.

His many years of experience have resulted in a thorough knowledge of all aspects of mortgage lending -- customer service, collections, loan structuring, processing, underwriting, funding and workouts.

He has developed successful marketing programs, trained investors and realtors in defining and assisting in acquisitions of properties and loans. He has presented numerous seminars for various real estate groups and developed a large client base for commercial, construction and rehabilitation loans. His clients included property owners, developers, real estate agents and mortgage brokers.

He is currently active in California Association of Mortgage Brokers and is a board member for Los Angeles CAMB Chapter.

He attended the University Of Vienna, Austria and graduated from U.C.L.A. with a bachelor of arts degree.

Mr. Furtak is also active in community affairs and is on the board of clergy counsel with the Los Angeles Police Department