Plaza Mortgage President Quits Job Abruptly : Resignation: James M. Weld and his colleagues say the departure is voluntary. The 40-year-old executive has been credited for the company’s rapid and successful expansion.

Plaza Home Mortgage Corp. announced Tuesday that its president, James M. Weld, has resigned.

The company gave no details about Weld’s resignation except to say that it was effective Monday and that the executive believed it was time to move on.

Weld, 40, said in a telephone interview that his departure was sudden because “It’s hard to give 100% to a company when you are pursuing other things.” He would not elaborate other than to say, “I would like to keep my options open.”

His leaving, Weld said, was “a totally voluntary resignation. I wish the company well.”

The president’s title was immediately assumed by Chairman John T. French, and some of Weld’s duties were divided among top executives of the home mortgage company, which is parent of Plaza Savings & Loan.

French said that Weld was not asked to leave and that he accepted Weld’s resignation “with regret.”

Analysts said they were not particularly surprised at Weld’s sudden departure.

“Once you’re ready to go, you’re ready to go,” said E. Gareth Plank, an analyst at Mabon Securities in San Francisco. “Jim did a great job at Plaza and is well respected. Clearly, you miss somebody like that.”

Plank said that French is a “forceful manager” who should be able to fill the void and that the company is well positioned for success.

Gary Gordon, analyst for the brokerage PaineWebber in New York, called the resignation “more of an internal issue than any sign about the business or the company.”

Mortgage brokers are doing well now, Gordon said, because of the home-refinancing business brought in by low interest rates. The test for companies like Plaza, he said, will come when the refinancing business slows as rates eventually start to rise.

Weld, who arrived two years after the company was founded in 1985, was credited by both Plaza and outside observers for the company’s rapid and successful expansion.

Plaza, based in Santa Ana, has also been expanding nationally. In June, it completed the acquisition of Sandia Mortgage Corp., a privately owned mortgage service company based in Albuquerque, N.M.

Last year, the company raised $32 million in an initial public stock offering and started opening loan offices from Bellevue, Wash., to Hollywood, Fla. It reported 1992 earnings of $14.5 million, up 58% from a profit of $9.2 million for the previous year.

In Tuesday’s NASDAQ trading, Plaza’s stock closed at $9 a share, down 37.5 cents.

Weld ranked 69th last year among the highest-paid executives at publicly owned companies based in Orange County. His salary and bonus totaled $475,000, a 12% increase from the previous year.