Pavan Agarwal is the CEO of Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. (NMLS 3277) and the founder of Celligence LLC. He is also the creator of AngelAi®, an artificial intelligence platform for mortgage lending. His path to those roles began in a family business in Southern California, where he worked since childhood.
A Family in Real Estate
According to the company, Agarwal was born in India and grew up in Cerritos, California, where he attended public schools. Both of his parents worked in real estate.
For the Agarwal family, work and home were closely tied together. He spent much of his childhood helping his parents clean properties, collect rent and put out open house signs. Everyone in the family was expected to help.
Agarwal described that childhood in a December 2022 profile in National Mortgage Professional. “Like most tight-knit families, there was no clear line between the family business and the family home,” he said.
His mother, Sharda Agarwal, serves on the company’s board and attends industry conferences with her son, according to the company.
The Company His Father Started
In 1980, his father, Hari Agarwal, started Sun West. According to the company, Hari Agarwal was a chemical engineer who kept his loan records by hand in written ledgers.
The new company soon became part of the children’s daily lives. Agarwal played at the first Sun West office after school, and the family’s daily schedule revolved around the business’s needs.
Hari Agarwal also set a clear standard for how the family treated borrowers. He told his son to judge a loan by asking whether he would lend his own money, and to treat each customer the way he would want to be treated.
Agarwal recalled that lesson years later. When HousingWire named him a Vanguard in 2023, it asked what advice he had received. “My father, Hari, always said that if we do everything we can for our customers, then they will be customers for life,” he answered.
Learning Every Job
Agarwal began working in the family business at a young age. His father encouraged him to try originating mortgages while he was still a young teenager, and his mother has said she urged him to watch his father close deals.
He took on more roles as he grew older, from sales jobs to cleaning the office. “By the time I was a young adult, I served multiple duties at the company, including being a wholesale representative, brand rep and a loan originator,” he said. “I even served as head janitor.”
Computers and a Handoff
Agarwal also showed an early interest in computers. According to the company, he wrote his first loan underwriting program in 1983, three years after his father opened Sun West, and his first artificial intelligence program in 1985.
His father had thought about using artificial intelligence in the 1980s but found it too hard without deep technical training, so his son took over that work. “So, it was a natural progressive hand-off,” Agarwal has said.
Taking Over the Family Business
His father asked him to take over as CEO of Sun West in 2008, according to the company. Agarwal was in New York at the time, and the two men spoke by phone about a collateral margin call. A margin call is a demand for more cash or collateral to back a loan position.
His father told him that if he solved the problem, he could take charge of the company from then on. The handover took place during the financial crisis, and Agarwal has led Sun West since that year.
Hari Agarwal passed away at the end of 2021. “My main focus when we lost dad was not on the company at first; it was taking care of mom,” Agarwal has said. He has also said that he tries to lead by example.
Life Outside the Office
Agarwal goes to trade shows in a Sun West shirt and jeans and walks among his employees there, attending these events himself rather than sending someone in his place. He dislikes being called “boss,” which he has said goes against the company’s values.
Music is one of his main interests outside of work. As a teenager, he took up skateboarding and developed an interest in punk and rock music.
Music also plays a part in his work life. He posts a song of the day on his LinkedIn account. “I use music as a way to connect with people in the industry,” he said.
The Work He Does Today
Agarwal’s career now spans more than four decades. He founded Celligence LLC, a technology company that is separate from Sun West, and he serves as the CEO of both companies. Celligence says its patent portfolio includes issued patents and pending applications.
Fox Business interviewed him on Mornings with Maria in February 2023.
Industry outlets have also recognized his work. In 2023, HousingWire named him a Finance Leader and a Vanguard, and Inman listed him among the winners of its Best of Finance Award. In 2025, Fast Company gave AngelAi’s Personal Loan Assistant an honorable mention in its Innovation by Design Awards.
Agarwal grew up helping his parents with their real estate work, and he held many jobs at Sun West before he became its leader. Today he runs the company his father started in 1980, the same company where he once played after school.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute mortgage, financial, or investment advice. Mortgage products, rates, terms and eligibility vary by lender and by borrower circumstances. Readers should consult a licensed mortgage professional or qualified financial advisor before making any financial decision.
Disclaimers:
AngelAi, LinkedIn, Fast Company, and Fox Business are registered trademarks of Celligence LLC, LinkedIn Corporation, Mansueto Ventures LLC, and Fox Media LLC, respectively. Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. and Celligence LLC are not affiliated with any third parties. The names are owned by the respective third parties.
About AngelAi:
AngelAi was developed by Celligence LLC, a financial technology and AI company. According to the company, the Celligence AI is built from self-generating units that work together to solve complex problems, and it is designed to be deterministic rather than solely generative, an approach the company says suits the accuracy requirements of financial transactions.
Celligence engineers work on mobile applications, customer acquisition, retention algorithms, and AI-based process automation. According to the company, some of the engineers on the Celligence team were part of Sun West during the platform’s early development stages.
AngelAi has a licensing agreement with Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. NMLS 3277. Mortgage and other financial services are provided by Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. NMLS 3277. Celligence LLC is an affiliate of Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc.
About Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc.
Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. was founded in 1980 by Hari Agarwal and is headquartered in Cerritos, California. The company works with loan officers and uses technology to support the mortgage process for homebuyers and homeowners who are refinancing. The company lists people, experience, technology and product as its core values.
For licensing information, go to: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Visit www.swmc.com/disclaimer for the full list of license information. Please refer to www.swmc.com/TXdis to view Texas Complaint Notice and Servicing Disclosure. In all jurisdictions, the principal (main) licensed location of Sun West Mortgage Company, Inc. is 18303 Gridley Rd, Cerritos, CA 90703.
