Since graduating from the business school at the University of Iowa in 1999, Brian has spent his career both lending to small business and providing quality returns for investors.

After playing professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system, Brian began working for locally owned Hawkeye State Bank, a commercial bank in Iowa City. After 8 months Brian was promoted to manage the branch location. After 3.5 years in this role he stepped away from the banking industry to become a financial adviser for Chicago based Resources Planning Group. Brian grew his book by helping high net- worth clients with advice in areas such as: investments, estate planning, retirement planning, insurance solutions and small business consultation. Brian’s specialized area of focus at RPG was the development of the alternative investment portfolio.

Brian is also a partner in an organization called Life Success 4 Athletes. LS4 is a support team for professional athletes to help them navigate throughout their life phases and transitions. He also is a co-founder and partner in DD Sports, LLC, an All Sports Academy.

The SM Capital Funds originated from the experience Tom gained while managing Visionary Investments. which has achieved double-digit year- over-year results for 20+ years. Tom originated over $50 million in 350 small business loans.

In 1993, Tom founded Business Strategy Group to leverage his combination of business, legal and entrepreneurial experience and skills. Business Strategy Group was named by Lawyer’s Weekly as one of the top consulting groups in Boston. After graduating from Boston College, cum laude, Tom went on to obtain his JD from Suffolk Law School and his MBA from Babson College.

Tom began his business career with Faded Glory, the company that introduced the concept of “fashion” jeans to the world. He was instrumental in both the establishment and management of the company. Tom was the co-founder, Vice Chairman, and General Counsel for Leading Edge Products, Inc., a pioneer in computer manufacturing that popularized the IBM clone strategy and which set the trend for the growth of the computer industry. In 1988, Tom founded Shane & Paolillo, P.C., at its peak a firm of 34 attorneys on both coasts, in which Tom specialized in corporate law.

Tom is also President & CEO of an affiliated company, The Lending Team, Inc., providing creative financing solutions in the commercial real estate market.

Jim is responsible for raising capital along with the development of qualified borrowers and equity partners along with client partners/entrepreneurs who are in need of strategic expertise.

Jim is an entrepreneurial sales professional with highly developed sales and new business development skills, experience cultivating strategic business relationships and raising capital for start-up companies. Recently, Jim was Managing Partner of Chicago Global Capital, LLC, a foreign currency trading firm with an algorithm-based, computer-driven, high-frequency trading program. In addition to the daily management responsibilities, Jim raised investment capital from wealthy individuals, family offices, private equity firms and hedge funds. His interest in financial markets started early during a fourteen-year career in the eighties and early nineties with Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Drexel Burnham Lambert, highly regarded Investment Banking firms during that era.

Jim’s experience in sales, sales management and business development spans a number of diverse industries. He launched the sales initiative for a continuing medical education start- up targeting physicians and large pharmaceutical companies. He hired and trained the sales team for a $50 milion mixed-use real estate development venture as well as managing the project during construction. He directed the sales and marketing team for a new corporate sports hospitality firm targeting C-level execs and their clients with reward/incentive promotion programs to premier national and international sporting events.

In the early years of the tech boom, Jim and his partners launched a company that converted business information from industrial companies into a searchable, multimedia database format transferrable to CD or website. He has managed and expanded a multi-state network of material-handling dealers throughout the Midwest for a specialty engineering company. In each of these highly diverse and seemingly unrelated industries, Jim has proven the ability to adapt, learn and build strong business relationships.

Rodney graduated from Macalester College, in St. Paul Minnesota, with a degree in Economics. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix along with an additional Masters in Entrepreneurship from Keller School of Management. Rodney Began his career as a financial advisor and quickly took on the challenge of helping Small Businesses start, survive, and thrive. AT the same time he held multiple leadership roles in the financial industry leading offices and regions to great success and helping many entrepreneurs start their businesses quickly and efficiently.