Joanna R. Bruno, founder and president of J.R. Bruno & Associates, is a long-time advocate of the small business movement. Ms. Bruno is dedicated to providing assistance and education on how local institutions and the community can work together to foster small business growth.

Her career as a force in SBA Lending began with a promotion to Business Development Director at The Money Store Investment Corporation. At The Money Store, she developed and implemented a marketing strategy that resulted in the company becoming the region's leading SBA lender.

Ms. Bruno was hired by GlenFed Business Lending Services to completely reorganize their statewide small business commercial lending division. After completing that task, she accepted the position of Vice President and Manager of Caliber Business Credit, a division of Valley Bank of Nevada. At Caliber, she established a regional commercial lending profit center for Southern California that was recognized as the top California loan production office.

Never content to rest on her laurels, Ms. Bruno moved on to Vice President/SBA Manager of Foothill Independent Bank, where she established a small business-lending center specializing in SBA loans. This center exceeded bottom-line profitability during each year of operation under her tutelage.

Realizing that there was an unfilled need in the lending community, Ms. Bruno went on to found J.R. Bruno & Associates with the express purpose of bringing financial institutions and the community together. Ms. Bruno has successfully helped generate $500 million for more than 1000 business owners. As an Advocate for Economic Action, Ms. Bruno maintains liaisons with congressional members, regulatory agencies, bank and credit union associations, and women's organizations at the national, state, and local levels. In addition, Ms. Bruno has been an active member of the Women's Enterprise Development Corporation (WEDC), and the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), of which she was a founding member.

Most recently, Ms. Bruno has brought her experience to the credit union industry by sharing her knowledge with the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations, and the Arizona and California Credit Union Leagues. She frequently travels to Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, CA as an advocate for small business and women in business, and was appointed by the White House to the SBA's Advisory Council for the Los Angeles District Office.

Leveraging more than 30 years experience in commercial lending, Ms. Bruno leads the J.R. Bruno & Associates' team of Guaranteed Action Professionals (G.A.P.) in assisting SBA lenders with maximizing the effectiveness of their commercial and Small Business Administration (SBA) loan divisions. Ms. Bruno offers her clients proven expertise and a track record of success by delivering results-oriented services, including staff training, technical assistance, business development and marketing assistance, loan reviews, and back-office support.

Bradford S. Crosley is a Senior Associate with J.R. Bruno & Associates. With more than 30 years' commercial lending experience, Mr. Crosley is responsible for client commercial lending activities, SBA staff training, loan application packaging and processing, lender preparation for PLP audits, quality control for internal auditing, third-party policies and procedures reviews, and work flow analysis.

Mr. Crosley's expertise encompasses virtually every aspect of commercial lending, including bank branch operations, management, business development, personnel administration, policies, procedures, and banking regulation. His formal education, special training, and problem-solving skills have produced profitable results for commercial lending programs of financial institutions across the country.

In serving J.R. Bruno & Associates' broad client base, which ranges from single-branch banks to large nationwide lenders with specialized SBA lending departments, Mr. Crosley has led the J.R. Bruno & Associates' team of Guaranteed Action Professionals (G.A.P.) in training more than 200 lenders in the principals of SBA lending. The G.A.P. Team under Mr. Crosley's direction has also reviewed the portfolios of more than 30 lenders to insure compliance with SBA regulations. Reviews have included recommendations for action to remediate deficiencies in lending procedures and address defects in specific loans, in addition to developing policies and procedures for departments and initiating SBA lending.

Prior to joining J.R. Bruno & Associates, Mr. Crosley served as Area Vice President/Senior Commercial Loan Officer for The Money Store Investment Corporation. There he led a team of 16 employees to successfully develop a new commercial lending division, with a strong focus on customer relations. During his tenure at The Money Store, the branch became the number-one SBA lender in the Santa Ana district, the number-one volume branch in the company, and Branch of the Year. Mr. Crosley was personally responsible for generating loans in excess of $312 million to more than 540 firms.

Mr. Crosley also served as Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager of Southwest Bank, where he was responsible for decreasing loan losses by 75 percent. He also reduced annual staff turnover from 144 percent to 20 percent, earning the Avis Award for "Most Improved Branch."

As an intermediary for the Los Angeles Community Development Bank, Mr. Crosley provided loan packaging and intermediary services to businesses and lenders that worked within the Los Angeles Community Development Bank Empowerment Zone. In addition, Mr. Crosley served as an intermediary for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Pre-Qualification Program. He has been active in many SBA-sponsored programs and most recently served on the SBA's Orange County District Office Small Business Week committee. In addition, he received extensive CEDLI, CDFI, COIN, and B&I lending training, and has served as a judge for California State University at Fullerton's Entrepreneur Institute.