The Business Finance Group mission statement is “we are committed to providing innovative business financing solutions to our small to medium size business clients so that they can competitively expand their business horizons.”

We have over 75 years of combined business financing experience providing us with the expertise to take a comprehensive and common sense approach to evaluate the business financing needs of our clients.  Please see our Funded Transactions for examples of the types of successfully Funded Transactions we have completed.

  1. We have direct access to our lending partners’ decision makers for financing approval, resulting in 100% approval experience with all of our loans submitted to the SBA
  2. We have long term relationships with many clients where we continue to finance their successful business expansion.
  3. We have a history of successfully funding difficult transactions resulting in other lenders referring their difficult transactions to us because they are comfortable with our credit evaluation and underwriting expertise
  4. We have a relationship-based approach to so that we are thoroughly involved to assure successful suitable financing for our clients.
  5. Business Finance Group ranks in the top 10% nationally for funded SBA 7a loans.

Business Finance Group Co-Founders and Key Advisors:

Mark Austin – is our Managing Director with over 15 years of SBA and banking experience.  Mr. Austin was the Vice President Commercial Loan Officer in the Capital Markets Secondary Market Loan department of Imperial Bank located in Southern California utilizing his expertise to underwrite and evaluate the loans of other lenders, who sold their loans to the Capital Markets Department.  Mr. Austin was the Vice President Commercial Loan Officer and Production Manager of the Small Business Lending Division of Imperial Bank, which generated in excess of $100 million in annual loan production. He was the Commercial Loan Officer of Government Funding Division.  He was responsible for successfully obtaining SBA approval on more than 100 loans under standard 7a submission. Associate for FMV Opinions, Inc. responsible for determining business valuations for small businesses. He worked closely with small business owners in analyzing business financial statements for valuation purposes. 

Mr. Austin has a BS in Finance from the Long Beach State University and a MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Oregon. 

Key associations include:  

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    • ABL/SBA Finance Professionals
    • California Institutional Investors
    • Commercial Finance Professionals
    • Small Business Banking Professionals
    • Banking Connects
    • California Business Link
    • Inside Banking Lending Group
    • SBA Business Professionals
    • SBA Loans Group
    • SoCal Real Estate Group
    • The Real Estate Networking Group
    • CID Oregon - Commercial Real Estate

 

Jermal Booker – is our Managing Director with over 10 years of financial services and banking experience.  Mr. Booker worked for Morgan Stanley, one of the nation’s top brokerage firms as a financial advisor, where he acquired the Series 7 and Series 66 security licenses and was registered with the NYSE, NASD and SEC.  He worked directly with the Chairman/CEO of a community bank to improve operations and asset quality.  He participated on the bank’s asset-liability committee as secretary.  He participated in pre-audit preparation for FIDC and DFI audits in addition to implementing the recommended changes from the respective regulatory bodies.  Lending experience includes underwriting SBA GP and PLP loans, commercial loans, lines of credit, residential and commercial construction, asset based loans, commercial real estate and international credit. Loan servicing experience includes negotiations with borrowers and other participating creditors/ lien holders to ensure the bank’s interest was properly represented. He has experience in the majority of corporate banking functions including underwriting, SBA packaging, business development, loan liquidation, setting interest rates, and monitoring the banks asset/liability portfolio.  

Mr. Booker has a BS in Business Administration (Finance) from California State University, Los Angeles.

Key Associations include:

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    • ProAdvisors
    • Monrovia Chamber of Commerce
    • FocusOut Networking Group

 

Key advisors include:

Nathaniel Booker – is the President and CEO of First Innovative Financial Group, which is an affiliate company we helped start in 2001, with over 34 years of banking and financing experience.  His experience includes middle market and corporate bank lending, the latter to large multibillion corporations. He has worked for major banks based in California, including Wells Fargo Bank and in New York, Chemical Bank (now known as JP Morgan Chase). Early in his career he made a decision to bring his multimillion corporate bank lending experience to small to medium size businesses by joining Government Funding Corporation, a privately held small business direct lender. Mr. Booker held the position of Executive Vice President/Chief Lending Officer of Government Funding Corporation, at the time considered one the most successful small business lenders in the country. This privately held business was sold for $90 million cash in the mid 1990's. Mr. Booker started up and managed the Capital Markets and Secondary Market securitized lending department for Imperial Bank, a major independent bank located in Southern California.  He successfully managed the department, creating a $100,000,000 portfolio, which was sold.    

Mr. Booker has a Bachelors in Business Finance and Economics from the University of Oregon and a MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Washington.  He was named on the Dean’s list at both schools.

Patrick McCormick – has over 35 years of banking and financing experience. His experience includes Senior Vice President, Credit Administration with Comerica Bank and Senior Vice President, Manager SBA Credit Administration with Imperial Bank. He also was Senior Underwriter with Government Funding Corporation, one of the most successful privately held small business lenders in the country.  His credit administration experience includes overseeing underwriting, assisting with the analysis and structuring of complex loan transactions, monitoring portfolio credit quality and portfolio risk management.  He developed departmental policies and procedures, which supported Imperial bank’s Preferred Lender expansion from three to ten states. This resulted in annual loan increase from $40MM to $175MM. He developed underwriting expertise for construction loan department and added USDA B&I specialty lending. As Senior Underwriter,  he underwrote in excess of $500MM in loan requests.  His non banking experience includes Vice President and General Manager of a sportswear manufacturer and importer, where he oversaw finance and manufacturing.  

Mr. McCormick has a BS in Business Administration and MBA from University of Southern California.