For Garrett Larkin, the financial services industry has been home for more than 20 years. He began his career in consumer lending, where he learned about personal credit, and advanced to leadership roles in retail financial services for several international mega-banks. Today, as vice president and manager of Wintrust Mortgage’s main Lake Forest branch on the North Shore, Larkin strives to assist clients with a mortgage that will help them meet their overall financial goals. “My passion has always been around helping clients from all walks of life save money and time and ultimately end up in better financial shape,” he shares.

Larkin’s history in leading financial services teams, especially sales teams, made his transition to the mortgage industry in 2020 an easy one. “It helped merge my history for leading a sales team and taking care of client’s needs,” he recalls. He grew Wintrust’s North Shore team to 14 members in the last year, and he’s proud to be part of the team himself. “Wintrust is one of the top 20 bank-owned retail mortgage originators and loan servicers in the country, originating more than $4 billion in loans annually in all 50 states,” he says. “We offer competitive pricing and a wide variety of mortgage products for the first-time homebuyer to the seasoned veteran, as well as the technology and support staff to ease clients through the process.”

Even after more than two decades in the business, Larkin still gets a thrill from helping borrowers achieve the dream of homeownership. Last year, he guided a young, first-time borrower with more than $28,000 in down-payment assistance through the process and across the finish line. He vividly remembers the joy on her face at closing.

Mentoring young people in his community is important to Larkin. For many years, he has been active in local youth sports and Junior Achievement, a nonprofit with a mission is to inspire and prepare youth to succeed in a global economy.