SBAP Staff
Lorra Lee
President
Lorra Lee serves as the President for Small Business Access Partners (SBAP). She directs the planning, budgeting, accounting, and human resource functions. She also oversees lending, portfolio management, federal agency reporting and marketing of the SBA 504 program. Lorra has been with SBAP since 1992 and has served as its President since 2004.
Lorra earned a BBA in International Business from the University of Georgia. She has also completed NADCO and other lender training courses. She has previously served on the UGA Small Business Development Center Advisory Council and the GLQC Board of Directors.
Melinda Coker
Senior Vice President
Melinda focuses on marketing the SBA 504 loan program to potential borrowers, lenders, and other referral sources. She has significant experience in analyzing proposed projects and providing a financing structure that is acceptable to both the participating lender and the borrower. She also has extensive experience in analyzing financial statements and cash flow projections as required for making decisions with regard to credit worthiness of a loan. Finally, Melinda provides oversight of the closing process for the SBA 504 loans. She began her career in SBA lending when she joined the CDC as a lender in 1998. Her vast experience and expertise has enabled her to take on a leadership role within the CDC. As Senior Vice President, she helps influence current and long-range objectives, provides underwriting and closing oversight, and represents the company with its lenders, borrowers, and the public.
Melinda received her degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Economics from Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. She has served on the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle Board (GLQC) and held the position of Secretary for two years. Melinda has been honored with the Small Business Advocate Award by the U.S. SBA Georgia District Office.
Matt Schroeder
Vice President- Underwriter
Matt Schroeder serves as Vice President and Credit Underwriter for Small Business Access Partners, Inc (SBAP). His primary responsibilities include performing credit underwriting analysis on new 504 loan applications and presenting credit applications for approval to the board of directors that oversees SBAP. Matt interacts closely with participating lenders and borrowers during the credit underwriting process. He also attends client calls for new 504 prospects and assists with marketing the 504 program administered by SBAP to participating lending institutions.
Matt earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Real Estate from the University of Georgia. In May of 2015, he obtained the designation of Credit Risk Certified (CRC) through The Risk Management Association (RMA) to further enhance his credit underwriting knowledge. In addition, he has successfully completed other commercial credit training classes through NADCO & NAGGL.
Kevin Thurmond
Vice President- Portfolio Manager
Kevin is responsible for servicing and liquidating the CDC’s loan portfolio of over 300 SBA and USDA Loans totaling more than $100 million. In addition, Kevin assists in closing and funding new loans. With his extensive experience and expertise in loan closings and portfolio management, Kevin works closely with borrowers, lenders and attorneys to ensure compliance with internal controls, federal regulation and loan program requirements.
Kevin received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC. In addition, he is a military veteran proudly serving 4 years in the United States Army as a Military Intelligence Analyst.
Connie Rampey
Loan Operations Assistant
Connie serves as the Loan Operations Assistant for SBAP and is responsible for assisting with the underwriting of new loan requests and with the servicing administration of the CDC’s loan portfolio. This includes collecting and reviewing information for new loan requests and assisting with loan portfolio servicing oversight. She brought 26 years of banking industry experience, including 10 years in the commercial loan sector, to this role at the CDC.
Connie earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and has completed SBA training courses through NADCO. Connie joined the SBAP team in 2018.