About the Committees

Nearly all our efforts to support the private lending industry operate under three pillars: Education, Ethics, and Advocacy. To guide initiatives in these core areas we appoint AAPL members from across the nation. Together, our advisory committees are the drivers for the future of our industry.

Education

Education Committee members write for Private Lender magazine, lead educational webinars, present AAPL Certification courses, and ideate topics/moderate our Annual Conference. They also provide insight to help guide myriad industry-changing initiatives.

Ethics

The Ethics Committee comes together to review Code of Ethics complaints and advise on outcomes/consequences for members who break our Code. They also write about ethics topics for Private Lender magazine and present ethics-focused virtual workshops.

Advocacy

Our Government Relations Committee helps guide federal and state advocacy efforts. Committee members provide feedback and strategy for specific bill support or opposition responses, drive grassroots contact campaigns, and coordinate with ally organizations.

Find out more about current legislative initiatives at the GRC Dashboard.

Initiatives

Together with our Committees, we are continually ideating on how we can better serve our members, the private lending community, and the industry. Check back here for what each Committee is tackling.

Certified Private Lender Associate – Commercial Asset Class
As residential inventory increasingly feels the squeeze, Private lenders are expanding their business models to extend loans secured by commercial property. This online course will provide an introduction to commercial property types, underwriting, closing, servicing, and workout processes, enabling lenders to stay ahead of borrower needs.

AAPL Resource Review
The Committee is working on better ways to organize and highlight nearly 15 years’ worth of articles, webinars, downloadable assets, and more, so you can easily find what you need in our deep (and underutilized) knowledgebase.

Borrower Education
Safeguarding our industry also means protecting against bad actors. The best way to do that is to empower borrowers and the public with knowledge on how to complete due diligence on a lender, what red flags to look out for, and how to recover/mitigate after the fact. Over the years we’ve created resources to that effect, but we need to do a better job of expanding, organizing, and promoting.

AAPList
We hear you! We’ve received numerous requests over the past years for a way that members can promote job openings, events/webinars, and other timely needs. This year we are working to launch a community notice board that (at least for the moment) we’ve internally and affectionately dubbed “AAPList.”

Code of Ethics Review
Our Code of Ethics is a living, breathing document that must change with the times to protect the viability of our industry. Our Ethics Committee is charged with continually evaluating the Code’s clarity and completeness, while also ensuring it does not unnecessarily burden membership with impractical expectations.

Best Practices
Our Code says and does a lot with seemingly little. But we recognize that if we expect our current and future members to follow it in good faith, we must also provide guidance. To that end, Committee members write articles and present webinars that articulate a framework of practice without being overly prescriptive.

Code Enforcement
AAPL is the only national private lending organization with a publicly-accessible complaint process. We treat all potential Code of Ethics violations with the utmost care, consideration, and seriousness while also shielding members from parties who seek to use our investigation process to harass or express dissatisfaction in an otherwise ethical outcome. As needed, our Ethics Committee provides advisory input in strict confidentiality.

Legislative Monitoring & Guidance
With hundreds of thousands of bills proposed annually in state and federal legislatures, it’s impossible to track everything. While we directly monitor mortgage licensing statutes, we rely on our GRC to keep an ear to the ground with their networks. They also provide advice and context on whether action is needed on the many bills reported to us.

Ally Building
Private lending is a niche industry, and our resources are minuscule against what the larger mortgage and financial industries have to work with. Where it makes sense, the best strategy is to band together with other organizations to pool efforts. Our GRC works to build relationships with potential allies so relationships are established before mobilization is needed.

Mobilization
Our industry’s lobbying dollars will always be a drop in the bucket compared to the money floating around Congress and state legislatures (to the tune of $3.73 billion in 2021 – and that’s Congress alone). But AAPL has a 100% success record in advocating for private-lender-friendly legislation. How have we done it? Our grassroots mobilization efforts have won the day over and over. While we’re not actively battling a bill now, here are some of our past successes:
Save Reg D • SEC “Accredited Investor” Definition • California Moratoria Extension • New York Commerical Licensing • New York Flip Tax • Florida Mortgage Licensing

Current Committee Members

Arthur Budimir
Constructive Capital

Henry Chavez
Cathedral CPAs & Advisors

David Cook
Contessa Capital, LLC

Dana Georgiou

Sam Kaddah
Liquid Logics

Erica LaCentra
RCN Capital

Jack O’Flaherty
High Divide Management

Kendra Rommel
FUTURES Financial

John Santilli
Rehab Financial Group

Scott Ward

Melissa Martorella, ESQ.
Geraci LLP

Commitee Ex Officio

John Beacham
Toorak Capital Partners

Gene Buccola
High Plateau LLC

Michael Fordham
Silverstream Funding

Jonathan Janikies
Spindrift Investments

Beeta Lecha
REIL Fund Services

Kemra Norsworthy
Bull Funding

David Rosenberg
FUTURES Financial

Jacob Therrien
Bridge Loan Network

Kevin Kim
Geraci LLP
Committee Ex-Officio

Alex Breshears
TC Capital LLC

George Caballero
Caballero Lender Services

Bill Fairman
Carolina Capital Management

Mike Fallot
MM Lending

Mark Filler
Rice Park Capital

Larry Gilmore
ClearBlu Capital Group Inc.

Jeffrey Levin
Pinewood Financial LLC

Alex Offutt

Jeffrey Spiegel
Cathedral CPAs & Advisors

Matthew Gunter, Esq.
Geraci LLP
Committee Ex-Officio

Get Involved

Committee appointments are two years in length, with new appointments made every odd calendar year. Committee members must maintain an AAPL membership in good standing to be eligible for a seat. We accept applications on an ongoing basis.

Committee Responsibilities & Application

Not ready to be quite that involved? Submit ideas, feedback, questions, and requests to our public comment form.

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