Meet the committee members who will be the association’s advisors in three critical areas: education, advocacy, and ethics.

During the past decade, we’ve zeroed in on three distinct areas that have grown to form the backbone of nearly every initiative we take as an association: Education, Advocacy, and Ethics. To better serve you and the private lending industry, every two years we appoint industry leaders to serve as advisors in these crucial areas.

We are pleased to announce our 2021-2022 appointees. Read about their unique perspectives and what
they bring to their respective committees below.

Education Advisory Committee

Melissa Martorella, Geraci LLP     

I bring legal expertise to AAPL’s Education Advisory Committee. In my day job, I represent lenders, brokers, and other members of the private lending industry, and I advise them on how to lend nationwide and remain compliant when doing so. By working with various members of this community, I also know how to balance legal concerns with business decisions to help private lenders navigate through issues no matter where or how they operate. I use this expertise and experience when working with AAPL and the committee to help advise best practices for our industry.

Beth Johnson, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Flynn Family Lending

With a professional background in corporate learning and development, I have a significant amount of experience in facilitating all aspects of the training function, including instructional systems design, program design and assessment, and facilitation.

 

Sam Kaddah, Liquid Logics

Building on my strong desire for teaching and advising, I bring a unique combination of 30 years’ experience in technology, fintech, in-depth process optimization and streamlining, Big Four consulting, and Fortune 500 executive leadership. And, as a founder, I am well-versed in building sales and topline growth to enhance knowledge and best practices in the industry.

Steve Kuptz, Trinity Mortgage Fund

I started in real estate from the public accounting side. I  spent my early career—the first six years—with KPMG and later Laventhol and Horwath, focusing specifically on the audit, taxation, and SEC reporting and compliance for large, publicly offered eeal estate syndications. I was fortunate to gain an early “Wall Street” perspective for the accounting, tax, and compliance issues involved in the ownership and ongoing management of large nationwide real estate funds focusing on multifamily, industrial, and commercial office holdings.

I then spent 30 years, along with my two business partners, directly involved in the investment, development, construction, financing, and management of affordable multifamily rental, commercial and industrial real estate, focused primarily in Southern California. Through three major downturns and recoveries, I experie

nced firsthand the challenges and rewards of owning
debt-finance real estate. Having experienced the ups and downs from both sides, I bring a healthy and balanced perspective to the lending and borrowing process.

For the past five years, my two partners and I have successfully built Trinity Mortgage Fund focusing primarily on fix-and-flip, construction, and acquisition bridge loans in coastal Southern California. From this experience, I bring the perspective of the small (approximately $50 million) fund manager lending directly to entrepreneurial borrowers in coastal San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange counties. Our borrowers appreciate, and benefit from, the fact we have walked in their shoes over the past 40 years.

Erica LaCentra, Director of Marketing, RCN Capital

I bring more than 8 years of comprehensive marketing experience in the private lending industry to AAPL’s Education Advisory Committee. My areas of specialty include brand development and marketing strategy management, partner relationship management, event planning, digital and print ad development and execution, email marketing, and social media marketing.

 

Beeta Lecha, Spiegel Accountancy Corp

I will continue to provide current and pertinent information as a contributing writer to Private Lender magazine, as well as take part in educational webinars offering progressive content that is relevant to the private lending industry.

Jeff Levin, Specialty Lending Group

I bring a very well-rounded perspective to the Education Advisory Committee. Throughout my career, I have participated in a wide variety of associations and have always had my hand in their programming, both social and educational.

I believe associations are defined by the programming they provide their members. This is the true value add. Associations are a place to get together with like-minded people in your industry to discuss current events, deepen your knowledge, and come together as a united voice for our industry.  As a lender for 25+ years, I have first-hand knowledge of the ups and downs of lending as well as governing regulations, trends, and best practices. Besides my lending background, I have been a borrower, a buyer, a seller, and a teacher in the lending field for the past 15 years.

Randy Newman, Total Lender Solutions

I bring almost 40 years of real estate experience, including more than 30 years licensed as a real estate attorney and educator, and 15 years as a broker. Having represented every possible participant in real estate transactions as well as litigation gives me a rather broad and unique perspective. I regularly write and teach various real estate topics, with my primary focus the last several years being in the default and foreclosure industry. I keep up-to-date with the new laws and legislation that seem to be in a constant state of flux.

Governmental Relations Committee

Christopher Ambrose, Ambrose Law Group LLC

I have been involved with the private lending industry for more than 25 years, primarily as legal counsel for private lenders of all sizes and at all levels—from formation and licensing through their day-to-day operations through dissolution.

To be an effective legal counselor, I believe a knowledge of all facets of the industry is critical. Toward that end, I have been actively involved with a variety of trade organizations over the past 25 years (primarily in the Pacific Northwest), including the Oregon Mortgage Bankers Association (including as vice president and president) and various legislative committees.

I have participated in and seen the great growth of the private lending industry during that time and have assisted with the implementation of a variety of legislative matters, have testified before and served on various governmental committees, and appreciate the impact the private lending industry has in the financial sector. I believe I can be a strong advocate for and against those governmental actions that most impact our industry and am excited to serve.

Cort Chalfant, Nexus Private Capital

It doesn’t hurt that I have decades of experience in real estate acquisitions, development, and finance blended with a healthy dose of economic development work, but perhaps my biggest contribution is energy. While time—or a lack of it—crimps what any of us can contribute, I’m enthusiastic about providing value to AAPL members through the work of the GRC.

Nema Daghbandan, Geraci LLP

My entire legal career has revolved around representing private lenders. I love their entrepreneurial spirit and ability to solve complex capital problems that traditional banks cannot. I have had the honor and privilege to be able to get into the legislative advocacy arena, to protect and advance the rights of private lenders, to fend off harmful legislation and regulations, and try to advance causes that provide benefit to private lenders. As an attorney who is deeply immersed in laws that affect private lenders, I am able to quickly analyze proposed legislation to determine its effects on the industry.

Mike Fallot, MM Lending LLC

I bring more than 15 years of experience as a direct private lender, serving the fix-and-flip, single-family market in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. I have served on the board of the Kentuckiana Real Estate Investors Association and the Fuller Center for Housing.

Brian Gallian, NDetail Capital

I bring an open mind and the determination to get our members’ message into the hearts and minds of our elected officials.

 

Matt Gunter, RCN Capital

One of my personal joys is the interplay between the legal and political processes. It is part of the reason I decided to become a lawyer and a major reason why I wanted to join and enjoy being a part of the Government Relations Committee. Here, I get to use my abilities in a new and unique way, all while providing a service to our members.

Chris Ragland, Ragland Realty

I bring a wealth of entrepreneurial and investor experience to the GRC. Having been a part of dozens of businesses throughout my career, I often see around corners, understanding the micro- and macroeconomic nature of private lending and real estate investing.

Ruben Izgelov, Co-Founder/Managing Director, We Lend LLC

Although I am not an admitted and practicing attorney (yet), I did graduate at the top of my class from Touro School of Law  and always had a love and an appreciation for law and government relations. I also have a very modest network in New York City politics.

 

ETHICS Committee

Kevin Kim, Geraci LLP

I’ve been an attorney serving the private lending industry for nearly 10 years. I’ve also served AAPL as an adviser, instructor, and sponsor during that time. This background grants me a unique insight into the ethical and acceptable practices of a private lender.

Mike Hanna, Investmark Mortgage

Having served on the Ethics Advisory Committee for five years, I am honored to have been selected to continue serving for a sixth. As part of the committee, I assisted in establishing the Code of Ethics, taught the ethics portion for the Certified Private Lender exam, participated in complaint hearings when a violation was reported, wrote ethics-related articles for Private Lender, and participated in the committee’s panel discussions at the annual conference in Las Vegas.

With more than 16 years of lending experience, I bring to the committee a deep understanding of the lending business, the industry, and the ethical challenges we face as lenders. Each loan has its own dynamics, both with the client and the property being underwritten. While originating almost 2,000 loans and reviewing several thousand applications, I have seen numerous scenarios where ethics have played an important role in deciding whether to fund a loan or how to guide a client over the course of a loan. During these challenging times, behaving ethically is more important than ever.

Susan Naftulin, Rehab Financial Group

My unique position as both a lender and lawyer give me a different perspective than other members of the Ethics Advisory Committee. As a lender, I am always looking for opportunities to grow my business, Rehab Financial Group LP (RFG), through marketing and product diversification, while doing the right thing ethically. As a lawyer, I am always looking to protect RFG and keep it on the right side of the law and relevant regulations.

These two roles are constantly in tension with each other, and every day is filled with decisions about where the ethical and legal lines are and how to most effectively run a profitable company that is always on the right side of morality and law. It is this perspective that I bring to the Ethics Advisory Committee. When discussing ethical issues among  committee members, it is frequently easy to come up with ideas about how something should be managed. But these ideas frequently need to be looked at from 360 degrees, meaning that it needs to be examined as both fundamentally legal, practical from a business perspective, and ethical. Although something may be legal and commercially practicable, the committee must also ensure the ethics threshold is also reached.

In addition, I bring an East Coast perspective to the committee, along with Jeff Tesch. RFG is located outside of Philadelphia, and its lending area is primarily along the East Coast. Lending regulations, default managing, and legal process vary widely from region to region and state to state. The presence of voices from different regions provides a healthy balance to the committee.  In addition, new fraud techniques tend to show up in one region of the country first and then spread to other regions. Having committee members from across the country allows us to discuss these trends and look out for them as they expand nationally.

Kemra Norsworthy, Principal Managing Partner, Bull Funding

I bring the experience of lending and a willingness for the industry to be ”doing business correctly.” This makes the field a fair and even playing field. Unethical people create more rules to follow for lenders and business owners who genuinely want the best for clients.

I have been an auditor for big banks during the housing bust. I also have a criminal justice degree.

 Kendra Rommel, Civic Financial

I bring more than 25 years of lending experience and building relationships founded on the ethics I know to be correct. No one wins in bad business dealings. I am thrilled to contribute when and where I can to encourage the development and innovation of good businesses and operators in our space.

 

 

Jeff Spiegel, Spiegel Accountancy                                  George Caballero, Caballero Lender Services