Executive Team

Randy Abrahams, President/CEO
Mr. Abrahams serves as the President and CEO of Bridge. In this capacity, Mr. Abrahams works to define the strategic direction for Bridge while directing the overall day to day operations of the company. Mr. Abrahams has over 25 years of lending experience. He began his career at National Acceptance Company, a subsidiary of Walter E. Heller and Company, a nationally recognized Commercial Finance Company.

He later joined an operation purchased by Fremont Financial where he spent over 10 years. After leaving as a SVP at Fremont, he joined LaSalle National Bank/ABN-AMRO in Chicago, Illinois. In 1997, Mr. Abrahams joined Finova Capital Corporation's newly formed Healthcare Finance Group. Mr. Abrahams was later promoted and managed the $1.2 billion Healthcare Finance Division on behalf of Berkadia, LLC; a joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation that had purchased the finance company.

Mr. Abrahams has served in the Commercial Finance Association in various officer positions in the Midwest and nationally on the Education Committee. He currently serves as a director of the CFA and is nominated for election in 2008 for the Commercial Finance Association Executive Committee.

Additionally, he has presented at national healthcare conferences; panels, banks and bondholder meetings; and equity investors gatherings throughout his career. Mr. Abrahams currently sits on the Board of Directors at Children's Memorial Hospital Foundation in Chicago.

Kim Gordon, EVP Chief Credit Officer
Ms. Gordon is responsible for the credit and portfolio functions of Bridge.  Ms. Gordon has 18 years of diversified commercial lending experience. Her background includes all facets of loan structuring, underwriting, transaction closings, portfolio management and loan workouts within various product lines.

Prior to Bridge, Ms. Gordon spent seven years with FINOVA Capital Corporation’s Healthcare division with a portfolio of $1.2 billion dollars in assets.  Ms. Gordon held various positions including Chief Credit Officer with $7.5 million of credit authority, Underwriting Manager and Underwriter.  Ms. Gordon remained with FINOVA after its purchase by Berkadia, LLC, a joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation. Prior to FINOVA, Ms. Gordon worked at CIT Group/Credit Finance and Fremont Financial Corporation in various areas including operations, audit, underwriting and portfolio management.  

Lawrence Hund, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Hund serves as Chief Financial Officer of Bridge Finance Group.  Mr. Hund's responsibilities include handling Bridge's accounting, financial planning, forecasting, treasury and funding. Mr. Hund has over 23 years of experience in the industry.

Prior to joining BFG, Larry spent nearly six years as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. (HDFS), the captive finance subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, Inc. His responsibilities there included accounting, financial planning, treasury and operations. He also served as Acting President of the Company from August 2006 to January 2007.

During his tenure at HDFS the company grew to nearly $7 billion in managed assets generating over $200 million annually in pre-tax income. Larry was responsible for financing programs that included commercial paper, term debt issuance and securitization.

Prior to HDFS, Larry spent seventeen years in finance positions at Heller Financial, Inc., the last six as Executive Vice President and Controller where he worked on both the initial public offering of the company's common stock and the ultimate sale of the company to GE Capital.

Larry is a CPA and he holds a Masters of Business Administration from The University of Chicago and a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting from Loyola University of Chicago. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Illinois CPA Society.

John Ross , Managing Director
Most recently, John ran the Asset Based Group of Chicago based Cole Taylor Bank, responsible for all facets of the Group, most notably growing new business and profitability by 200% over his tenure. John brings over 22 years of extensive lending experience, specifically in the traditional, non-traditional asset-based and factoring products. His background includes operations, auditing, account management and, for the last fifteen years, marketing and new business generation, with companies ranging in size from $10MM to $250MM in revenues.

John has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Southern Illinois University. He is a past President of the commercial Finance Association and now serves on its Board of Directors.

Shawn Andrews, Managing Director
Mr. Andrews is a founding member of Bridge Finance Group. He is engaged in the originating, structuring and closing of senior secured debt, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity, focusing primarily on leverage lending. Additionally, Mr. Andrews heads up BFG’s strategic initiatives including the structuring of joint ventures and the acquisition of specialty finance companies and debt portfolios.

Prior to joining BFG, Mr. Andrews spent several years performing financial and operational restructurings, investment banking, and other advisory solutions to middle market companies.

Mr. Andrews began his career in the Transaction Advisory Group at Andersen LLP where he managed the underwriting of cash flow loans and equity investments for financial institutions and private equity clients. Mr. Andrews has combined the “Big Four” quality of earnings audit approach and a “forensic” cash audit to create a comprehensive underwriting methodology used by BFG in all investments. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Andrews sits on the Board of Oak Street Funding LLC, an operating subsidiary of BFG engaged in the origination of business loans to insurance agents and agencies throughout the US.

Steven A. Narsutis, Managing Director
Prior to joining BFG, Mr. Narsutis spent 5 years at Finova Capital Corporation as a Senior Vice President liquidating over $3 billion of lending products that included cash flow, asset based, mezzanine, real estate, communication, M&E leases, rediscount,  and franchise loans.  Prior to Finova, he spent four years at Heller Financial holding various credit positions, with his last assignment as the Team Leader of Workouts for the restructured Corporate Finance business unit.  Mr. Narsutis’ experience in underperforming credits dates back 17 years during his tenure at Fremont Financial.  His troubled loan activities include debt restructuring, out-of-court arrangements (Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors or foreclosure sales), bankruptcy proceedings (confirmation of plans, conversions to chapter 7, conducting 363 sales) and asset liquidations.  In addition to his insolvency work, Mr. Narsutis developed and founded Heller’s small, asset-based group; was a member of Heller’s five-month restructure project that lead to the combination of three business groups (representing over $2 billion in funds employed); and participated on two due-diligence teams that represented key acquisitions for Fremont Financial.  Prior to his asset-focused lending, he underwrote and managed cash-flow transactions for GE Capital dating back to 1984. 

Steven Gross, Managing Director
Mr. Gross has over 22 years of diversified commercial lending experience his background includes all facets of Commercial Lending including, loan structuring, underwriting, portfolio management, transaction closings, and loan workouts. Prior to joining BFG, Mr. Gross spent two years with JP Morgan Chase where he and his team were responsible for a diversified portfolio of loans with credit facilities in excess of $850 million and $500 million in loans outstanding.

Prior to JP Morgan Chase Mr. Gross worked at GE Capital Corporation, Fremont Financial Corporation, and Fidelcor Business Credit in various lending functions and increasing responsibilities. 

Scott Mitchell, Chief Audit Executive
Mr. Mitchell recently joined Bridge Finance Group as Chief Audit Executive.  His team performs intensive due diligence in Healthcare, Asset Based Lending and Rediscount portfolios. 

Mr. Mitchell has twenty eight years in the banking, secured lending, and structured finance fields serving middle-market companies.   While in banking, Mr. Mitchell was Audit Manager for the Asset Based Finance Group, at Union Bank of California, meeting the due diligence needs of a portfolio of $2 billion of secured corporate loans with a staff of forty professionals. He led the due diligence efforts in Asset Based Lending, Leasing, Rediscount Lending, and Secured Branch Commercial Lines of Credit. 

Mr. Mitchell previously worked for the turnaround of Commonwealth Financial and was part of the senior management team that successfully reformed and restructured the company into Fremont Financial.  This same team completed the first securitization of Asset Based Loans in the early nineties, with their first tranche at $275 million.  As Audit Executive Mr. Mitchell led both the audit team and The Management Development Program for Fremont Financial.  His group performed the due diligence effort for a portfolio of $750 million of middle-market Asset Based loans from $2 million to $20 million.  His team was an integral part of the successful sale of Fremont Financial to FINOVA at a substantial premium. 

Mr. Mitchell was then invited to join the bankruptcy and liquidation team at FINOVA Capital Corporation.  As Borrower Audit Manager, Mr. Mitchell led a team of eighty professionals performing due diligence for a portfolio of $14 billion in senior secured debt, mezzanine transactions, and equity positions.  The team kept a forensic approach for the orderly liquidation of the portfolio for over five years in Equipment Leasing, Aircraft Leasing, Communications Finance, Resort Finance, Healthcare Finance, Rediscount Lending, and Asset Based Lending.  The successful orderly liquidation brought a $2 billion gain to the purchaser of the senior secured debt of FINOVA within two years.  The secondarypurchasers of the bonds also gained approximately $2 billion within five years. 

Mr. Mitchell is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. 

Andrew Hall, Director
Mr. Hall’s duties include managing an existing portfolio and closing new transactions, which includes involvement in initial screening, underwriting and document negotiations.  Mr. Hall has over 14 years of commercial lending experience; his background includes portfolio management, loan structuring, transaction closings and loan workouts (including Bankruptcies and liquidations).

Prior to joining BFG, Mr. Hall spent three years with JP Morgan Chase where he was responsible for a diversified portfolio of loans with credit facilities in excess of $300 million and $200 million in loans outstanding. Prior to JP Morgan Chase, Mr. Hall worked at Oak Brook Bank, Foothill Capital Corporation and Fremont Financial Corporation in various capacities.

Daniel Flaherty, Director
Mr. Flaherty is engaged primarily in the management of senior secured debt with mid-sized to large healthcare providers and other healthcare related assets. Mr. Flaherty focuses on all aspects of portfolio management of BFG accounts.  Mr. Flaherty has fourteen years of corporate finance experience in the healthcare, manufacturing, distribution and retail industries.

Prior to joining BFG, Mr. Flaherty was an Assistant Vice President at Merrill Lynch Capital, where he performed due diligence on prospective and existing asset based borrowers.

Preceding Merrill Lynch Capital, Mr. Flaherty was a Portfolio Manager – Special Assets in the Healthcare Finance division of FINOVA Capital Corporation, where he managed a complex portfolio of distressed healthcare provider assets. Mr. Flaherty has also held healthcare consulting positions at Ernst & Young, LLP and BDO Seidman, LLP, and was a senior auditor at Congress Financial Corporation. Mr. Flaherty is a member of Healthcare Financial Management Association.