meet the founder

Ray Drew got his start in 2011 as a marketing intern for an SBA 504 lender in Orlando working under Chris Hurn.

After a couple years working full-time in SBA 504 sales, Tom Zernick gave him a shot as a 7(a) business development officer at a regional bank in the southeast. Tom’s successor was George Andreaus, another early mentor of Ray’s.

When George went over to start-up ReadyCap Lending, Ray was one of his first sales hires. Working for a national, non-bank lender sent Ray on a path to become a top-producing BDO.

He started experimenting with social media which gained Ray some early notoriety. In 2019, in an attempt to get to the next level, Ray was searching for content geared toward top-producing SBA lenders. Coming up empty-handed, he decided to take matters into his own hands and produce it himself. And so The Art of SBA Lending was born.

The Art of SBA Lending began as a podcast, providing expert sales advice to SBA business development officers and later evolved into an interview-style show featuring some of the top talent in the SBA lending industry. It’s since grown into a well-known brand in the space, releasing multiple spin off shows including The BDO Show and SBA Today.

Ray is currently SBA Managing Director at Truliant SBA Lending.