Yuseff Howard, President and CEO

​

 

 Mr. Howard founded Progressive Funding Solutions, LLC and currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer. As a former firefighter and healthcare provider his passion has always been driven to identify solutions for assisting others. He is a veteran of three startup companies, launching from conception through live operations. He has been an entrepreneur and visionary in the clinical, hospitality, and real estate markets for over 20 years. Mr. Howard has been a restaurateur and currently provides business consulting for multiple companies. He has been involved with start-up, merger and acquisitions in the healthcare technology and restaurant arenas. He firmly believes in assisting individuals reach their business goals. Mr. Howard has been active in real estate acquisition and financing since 1995. His experience with WJBradley and Morgan Financial strengthened his knowledge of alternative financing. Identifying the needs of his client base, he branched into commercial financing. His experience in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions has been instrumental in building management teams. He has developed many teams to structure the closings of mid size commercial and industry specific projects. Mr. Howard studied at Excelsior College (formerly Regents College). Mr. Howard currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife and daughter.

 

 

Wayne Greene, Partner

​

 

 Mr. Greene is a Partner at Progressive Funding Solutions, LLC and has a diversified financial background. He was a Principle at Opus Capital Partners where he was involved in the mergers and acquisition and emerging manager advisory services of the private equity firm. His responsibilities at Opus include sourcing and analyzing acquisition opportunities for Opus. In addition to Opus, he held various corporate and consulting positions with Salomon Brothers, Long Range Systems, American Airlines, Argenbright, and his own consulting firm. His financial analysis and international tax skills were developed while at Salomon Brothers where he built models that had the ability to track and allocate expenses associated with tens of thousands of individual securities originating in every country where Salomon Brothers had business operations. His capital planning skills were honed at American Airlines where he analyzed capital projects valued from $500 thousand to over $1 billion. Many of these projects were technical in nature including software, computer systems, avionics, and aircraft acquisitions. He built his budgeting and job costing skills while at Argenbright where he was the Regional Controller for the Southwest Region. While at Argenbright, he oversaw a divisional budget that grew by 130% in one year. He is a mentor in a youth program designed to create future business leaders. Mr. Greene received his MBA from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and a BS in Finance from the Whitman School at Syracuse University.

 

 

Tamela Thorton, Advisor

​

 

Tamela Thornton is the President of Bronzegate Development Services, LLC, a real estate consulting and advisory firm that specializes in location strategic planning and site selection.  She is also a Principal with ESmith Legacy, Inc., a real estate development and investment firm with offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Dallas.  Ms. Thornton oversees the company’s Alternative Investments group, focusing on the acquisition of value-add assets in the retail and multi-family sectors, as well as the incorporation of other business segments into the company portfolio.  She has over 23 years of experience in the real estate industry, including retail development and market/financial feasibility analysis for new business expansion.  Her unique experience base has evolved from a variety of work experiences with large corporations such as Starbucks Coffee Company and YUM Restaurants, as well as private developers and public agencies.  Her experience with market and financial feasibility consulting for public agencies and private developers early in her career laid the foundation for the practical application of growth principles to everyday development opportunities. Ms. Thornton holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Fort Worth Business Assistance Center Education Foundation, Inc. and Services of Hope, a non-profit service organization dedicated to building capacity of underserved youth in Dallas through literacy and character enhancement programming.

 

 

Brian Graham – K&L Gates - Recommended Immigration CounseL

​

 

Brian Graham is Chair of both the firm’s Immigration Law team and its EB-5 Task Force. As such, he regularly advises corporations on resolving immigration compliance issues and developing long-term immigration strategies. He also counsels immigrant investors about the formation of regional centers, as well as filing individual petitions for same. Brian has substantial experience in obtaining visas, permanent residency and citizenship for athletes, entertainers, executives, healthcare professionals, investors, religious workers, information technology workers,  professors and researchers. He also advises clients on issues relating to expatriation and renunciation of US  citizenship. Brian is board certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  Before entering private  practice, Brian was employed as Assistant District Counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and also  worked at the INS General Counsel’s office in Washington D.C

 

 

Jerry Walker - Impact DataSource - Principal and Economist

​

 

Jerry Walker established Impact DataSource in 1993 and over the past 20 years, he has conducted economic and fiscal impact analyses of numerous individual firms, facilities, projects and economic development activities. He has also developed several economic and fiscal impact analysis computer programs for clients. Impact DataSource, and Jerry Walker specifically, is a leading provider of economic impact studies required for Texas Enterprise Fund Grants. Prior to founding Impact DataSource, Jerry had a fifteen-year career as a supervisory auditor with two federal departments where he reviewed federal programs for economy, efficiency and effectiveness.  Jerry has Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees in accounting and economics from Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana.

 

 

Jon P. Karp – Whitley Penn - Partner - CPA,PFS,CPCO

​

 

Mr.  Karp has more than 20 years of tax, advisory, and financial services and public accounting experience focused on C-corporations, S-corporations, partnerships and high net-worth individuals. Areas of practice include:

 

• Tax Planning
• Business Consulting
• Financial Consulting
• Asset and Wealth Protection
• Family and Privately owned Businesses
• Medical Practice Management

 

• Payroll Taxes
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Financial/Estate Planning & Consulting
• Financial Statement Compilation
• Bookkeeping and Recordkeeping Consulting