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Christopher Hurn

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Christopher Hurn is an American writer, entrepreneur, and business executive who works primarily in the field of small business lending.[1] He is the founder and CEO of Fountainhead, a company that provides commercial real estate financing and growth capital for small business owners. He previously founded Mercantile Capital Corporation, a financier of owner-occupied commercial real estate and an Inc. 500 company. He served as CEO of that company prior to leaving in late 2014 to launch Fountainhead.[2]

Hurn is the author of The Entrepreneur's Secret to Creating Wealth: How The Smartest Business Owners Build Their Fortunes, a book that details financing for small business owners.[3] He is also a frequent media commentator,[2] appearing on Fox Business to discuss issues relating to small business,[4][5] and a regular contributor for The Huffington Post.[6] As an entrepreneur and small business owner, he founded Kennedy's All-American Barber Club which operates stores nationally in the United States.[7][8]

Education

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Hurn graduated from Loyola University Chicago where he earned two bachelor's degrees, magna cum laude.[9][10] He went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Center of Government (Part of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania at the time), earning his M.B.A before a brief stint at Georgetown University Law Center.[11] He left Georgetown early to pursue a career in finance.[10]

Career

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Hurn began his career in lending with GE Capital before moving on to Heller Financial.[1] His lending experience led him to become an entrepreneur when he co-founded Mercantile Capital Corporation in 2002.[2] The company specialized in small business loans that are backed by commercial real estate.[12] The company first loaned to businesses in Florida, but expanded beyond the state shortly thereafter.[1] It used the SBA 504 Loan program to help small businesses obtain financing and was listed on the Inc. 500 list at #245 in 2007, on the Inc. 5000 list at #1683 in 2008, and on the Inc. 5000 list at #3,776 in 2009.[13] Mercantile was sold to Old Florida National Bank in 2010, with Old Florida National Bank later being acquired by IBERIABANK.[1] Hurn stayed on as the company's CEO until he left the firm in late 2014.[14]

Hurn authored The Entrepreneur's Secret to Creating Wealth: How The Smartest Business Owners Build Their Fortunes, a financial advice book that he released in October 2012.[15] The book details strategies for small business wealth creation. Inc. editor Bo Burlington stated that the book is "an invaluable guide to a crucial, but often overlooked, aspect of building a business" while Secrets of the Millionaire Mind author T. Harv Eker stated that it was a "hands-on strategy for your own financial freedom."[16] Hurn is also a regular contributor for The Huffington Post.[6]

Hurn founded Fountainhead Commercial Capital in February 2015.[17] The company is a direct lender specializing in SBA 504 and Low LTV (<65%) conventional loans. Fountainhead provides 504 first mortgages as a third party lender and interim second mortgages for acquisition, ground-up construction, and renovations.[18] It is a non-bank, national commercial lender that provides other commercial loan programs in addition to its SBA lending, while also originating loans from banks, nonbank lenders, credit unions and mortgage bankers/brokers through their new secondary market program: FastTrack504.[19][20][11] Fountainhead has closed over 12 billion dollars in SBA 504 loans in the last 20 years.[11]

Fountainhead, Hurn's company, was among the first round of Florida's "2018 Companies to Watch".[21]

Hurn is also a small business owner and listed as the principal of numerous businesses, including ATCC Management Group, Kennedy's International Franchising, and SpreheFamily Investments.[2] Kennedy's is a chain of barbershops Kennedy's All-American Barber Club with locations in Florida, Connecticut, and New Jersey, with Hurn operating one of the franchises in Lake Mary, Florida.[7]

Hurn has made numerous media appearances and provided commentary for media outlets that include multiple appearances on Fox Business, PBS NewsHour,[22] The Washington Post,[23] Forbes,[24] The Wall Street Journal [25] ,[26] and CNNMoney.[27] He also testified before the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in March 2012.[9] and [28] His work in finance has led to him receiving numerous awards and recognition, some of which include Top Twenty Most Influential People in Small Business Lending, SBA Marketing Guru of the Year, Top 25 Twitter Small Business Experts to Follow, and Top 100 Small Business Influence Champion.[29] Chris Hurn was recently[when?] named by American City Business Journals as one of the nation's most influential leaders in commercial real estate.[30] Hurn was additionally named as one of the Top Small Business Influencers of 2018 by Fit Small Business.[31][32]

He recently was interviewed on the changes in the 504 programs. [33] Hurn is a member of the Young Presidents Organization.[34] He has written the only book on SBA 504 loans and has testified in front of congress several times.[35]

Honors & Awards

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2022

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  • Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Business in America, Ranked #271 with a 2,006% 3-Year Growth and named the 5th fastest growing firm in metro Orlando
  • Ranked #13 “Best Companies To Work For” In Florida in the Small Companies Category from Florida Trend Magazine
  • EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist for Florida
  • Inc. Regionals Winner, Ranked #32 in Southeast Region
  • Inaugural “Inno Fire Award” Winner by the Orlando Business Journal (OBJ)
  • Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Orlando SMART Awards Winner for Middle Market Companies

2021

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  • Orlando Business Journal (OBJ) CEO of the Year
  • Top 100 list of Most Active SBA lenders in the country
  • Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Business in America, Ranked No. 1221 With a 3-Year Revenue Growth of 406.57%

2020

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  • Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Business in America Ranked and named #11th fastest firm in Greater Orlando
  • Top 100 list of Most Active SBA lenders in the country
  • Named “Best Places to Work” in Orlando by the Orlando Business Journal

2019

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  • Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Business in America, Ranked and named #9th fastest firm in Greater Orlando
  • Orlando Business Journal (OBJ) CEO of the Year
  • Top 100 list of Most Active SBA lenders in the country
  • SBA Marketing Guru of the Year by the Coleman Report
  • Best SBA Lender by Lendver

Past

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  • 2018 GrowFL “Florida Companies to Watch” Award Winner
  • 2018 Top Most Influential Leaders in Commercial Real Estate by American Business Journals
  • 2018 “Top Small Business Influencers” by Fit Small Business
  • 2017 Coleman Report's SBA 504 Lender of the Year
  • Named 2013, 2010, and 2006 District and Regional “Financial Services Champion” by SBA
  • Named “Banker of the Year” by the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO) in 2006

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Finkelstein, Brad (23 February 2015). "Why This SBA Real Estate Lender Struck Out on His Own - Again". National Mortgage News. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Burnett, Richard (28 July 2014). "Mercantile Capital co-founder steps down to pursue new business". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Book Awards - The Entrepreneur's Secret to Creating Wealth". Small Biz Trends. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Chris Hurn on Fox Business Channel January 2010". Fox Business. YouTube. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Chris Hurn on Fox Business". Fox Business. YouTube. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Chris Hurn writing profile on The Huffington Post". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  7. ^ a b Bower, Sean (21 December 2012). "Kennedy's All-American Barber Club cuts, snips and shaves through recession". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  8. ^ Lee, Kenny (2019-01-23). "Call grows louder for SBA to tackle loan application backlog". Ecommerce Daily News. Archived from the original on 2019-03-02. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  9. ^ a b Walters, Tanner. "Class Notes". Loyola Magazine. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Chris Hurn". Driving Your Marketing. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  11. ^ a b c "Chris Hurn: Founder, Fountainhead Commercial Capital". Startup Savant. 2016-12-17. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  12. ^ Fuscaldo, Donna (23 April 2013). "Out of the Box Loan Options to State a Business". Fox Business. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Mercantile Commercial Capital provides real estate loans to small and mid-size businesses". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  14. ^ Barth, Cindy (25 July 2014). "Mercantile Capital Corp., Chris Hurn part ways". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  15. ^ "The Entrepreneur's Secret To Creating Wealth Book Review". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  16. ^ Hurn, Chris (2012). The Entrepreneur's Secret to Creating Wealth: How the Smartest Business Owners Build Their Fortunes. Advantage Media Group. ISBN 9781599323152.
  17. ^ Barth, Cindy (29 January 2015). "Small biz lender Chris Hurn launches Fountainhead Commercial Capital". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  18. ^ Green, Charles H. (2 March 2015). "He's Back: Interview w/Chris Hurn, Fountainhead Capital". SBFI. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  19. ^ Coleman, Bob (4 February 2015). "Main Street Wednesday: A New SBA 504 Lender on the Block". The Coleman Report. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  20. ^ "Small Business Lending Interview Series: Chris Hurn". MonJa. 2018-04-11. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  21. ^ "Join us February 9, 2019 to Celebrate Florida Companies to Watch". GrowFL. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  22. ^ Goodman, Jordan (6 May 2013). "How Business Owners Can Thrive Regardless of Economic Conditions". Voice American. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  23. ^ Harrison, J.D. (5 November 2012). "Small business advice: When and how to take your company global". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  24. ^ Young Entrepreneur Council (11 April 2013). "Simple Changes Offer Big Solutions In Small Business Lending". Forbes. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  25. ^ Maltby, Emily (18 March 2010). "When Business Credit Scores Get Murky". The Coleman Report. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  26. ^ Maltby, Emily (18 March 2010). "When Business Credit Scores Get Murky". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  27. ^ Maltby, Emily (14 May 2009). "Specialist lenders profit as big banks pull back". CNN Money. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  28. ^ "Chris Hurn Congressional Testimony". Youtube. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  29. ^ "Chris Hurn - The Entrepreneur's Secret". BlogTalkRadio. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  30. ^ "Chris Hurn of Fountainhead Commercial Capital Named Real Estate Influencer". PR.com. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  31. ^ "Small Business Resources". Fit Small Business. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  32. ^ "SBA Loan Tips for Coping with Government Shutdown". business.com. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  33. ^ "The 504 Loan Program Continues to Tread Water". SBFI. 7 November 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  34. ^ "Should a Company Own Its Own Building? Here's How to Determine When It Makes Sense". Inc.com. 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  35. ^ "Main Street Monday — Fountainhead Commercial Capital Snags $23 Million Series A Funding". Coleman Report. 2016-05-23. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
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