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Paul Lopez / Element Funding 
Dr. Lopez is a Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Element Funding, a residential mortgage lender with branches across Georgia, Florida and North Carolina (www.elementfunding.com) that has served over 18,000 families with $3 billion in mortgage financing since opening as a startup business in the summer of 2007 when the housing industry was not the place to be!
In his corporate career, Paul was Executive Vice President of Business Development & Sales at HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation. Prior to that, he was employed in high tech for 20 years at IBM and Xerox in field and headquarters positions, and has been a faculty member at the business schools of Kennesaw State University and California State University.
Paul is highly involved in the community, currently serving on the boards of MUST Ministries and Action Ministries, and co-chairs the TiE-Atlanta chapter’s Entrepreneurship Competition for universities across Georgia.
Dr. Lopez holds a doctorate in business administration from Louisiana Tech University, and an MBA from the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Jeff Patterson / SBDC at Georgia State University
Jeff has extensive financial industry experience that includes leadership roles in credit administration, commercial lending, operations management, regulatory compliance, and audit administration. His expertise includes loan proposal and business plan preparation, cash flow management, budgeting, and customer satisfaction. He also has brokerage and financial planning training as well as his Commercial Lending Diploma from RMA. He received his MBA from Brenau University.
