Chris Ragland, COO of Noble Capital, has been an AAPL member for three years. His wanderlust is fueled by new cultures and languages that help build personal growth opportunities. If he can hike a mountain along the way, even better. Chris is a member of AAPL’s Education Advisory Committee, panelist, instructor and is about to embark on another new adventure as a regular contributor to Private Lender magazine!

Learn more about Chris:

How long have you been an AAPL member?   Three Years

What AAPL benefit do you MOST value?        

My business benefits tremendously from the annual conference. We use it as a platform to connect, educate, and survey the private lending landscape. It has turned into an annual performance perk for our employees, so we are always bringing new faces to the event each year, and we make sure they enroll in the AAPL designation courses. We have a tradition of competition at our office, and high scores is just another reason to compete.

Why did you become a member?

I’d like to share the knowledge I’ve gained in my many years in the industry. Private lending is growing rapidly and gaining visibility. I want those entering the business to be able to learn from the missteps we’ve made, and I want to help develop standards and best practices for those who follow us.

What is your favorite AAPL memory?

Some of the kickoff events can be a lot of fun, and many of them can run late into the night. The following day is always Day One of the training. It’s amazing to see how many people can have a great time and then get serious when it counts. We joke about who will take the first training class behind the scenes, or who stayed out the latest, but no matter who it is they take it seriously and I think the participants appreciate that.

Why did you decide to enter the private lending profession?

Noble Capital has been in the private lending industry since 2002. While I have been in Real Estate as an investor since 2000, I personally entered the private lending space in 2010 after participating in some exciting real estate deals as a result of the financial collapse in 2008. I watched so many opportunities come to pass in the two years after the meltdown and I wanted to know how I could be better positioned the next time that happened. Moving out of the deals and into the finance stack was my way of better positioning myself for the future.

What are some accomplishments you are particularly proud of?

In my professional life, I’m proud of what we’ve built at Noble Capital. When we started in 2002, the Private Lending Industry was nascent. We’ve put a lot of time and hard work into developing processes for operating and growing the business, as well as protecting our investors’ capital. We’ve seen a lot of difficult times – particularly through the recession – but we figured out how to make it work, and we emerged stronger for it.

What is your favorite book, and why?

Dune, by Frank Herbert. It’s one of the most operatic space novels ever written, combining political, religious, economic, and ecological issues all into a strange world set in the distant future. It’s a wonderful escape while intellectually stimulating.

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