Our Team

Sundip Patel is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AVANA Companies, the holding company for the ESG fintech platform serving entrepreneurs and investors since 2002. Sundip oversees the LendThrive™ and EqualSeat ™ platforms for lending and investment, respectively, focused on supporting sustainable growth in communities. LendThrive^TM was created to provide frictionless capital to small businesses in America while EqualSeat^TM was created to democratize the returns from the small business loan investments.

Prior to founding AVANA, Sundip created the popular tech startup Huddle247.com, providing online business services for workgroup collaboration, and which PC Magazine rated among the top virtual workplace solutions in 2000. He also founded SOFTECT, a California-based technology training start-up.

Sundip earned an MBA from the University of California, Irvine in 1998 and bachelors’ degrees in economics, finance, and accounting from California State University at Fullerton in 1990. He holds both a CPA and CMA licenses in California, USA.

Sundip splits his time between the headquarters in Bahrain, Middle East and Phoenix, Arizona, USA. With his passion for helping others, he founded the Giggle Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides funding towards basic health, education, and empowerment for underprivileged people in the USA, Africa, and India. Sundip is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (Bahrain and San Francisco Gold), the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO), and the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL).

Sundip is a frequent speaker on investing, lending, ESG, fintech, and technology.

A veteran of the commercial banking industry with over 25 years of experience, Sanat Patel is the Chief Lending Officer of AVANA Companies, as well as a Co-founder of our legacy company, AVANA Capital.

In his position as Chief Lending Officer, Sanat oversees credit and risk administration, as well as the origination and syndication of commercial debt. Sanat excels at navigating the complexities of commercial debt management, as well as creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to realize their dreams and create wealth for their businesses to thrive.

Prior to AVANA, Sanat served in various functions of commercial banking, supporting clients across segments of corporate banking within Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, and JP Morgan. His competitive drive resulted in him being ranked in the top 10% of bankers nationwide within these institutions.

Sanat earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a dual major in finance and management science, and a minor in economics, from California State University, Fullerton. In 2008, Sanat completed the Banking Degree offered by Pacific Coast Banking School, held at the University of Washington. Currently, Sanat is pursuing an Executive MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Sanat was a founding member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Arizona and served as its President from 2014-2016. He also served as a Board Member for Make-A-Wish in Arizona and is the current President of the Phoenix chapter of Pratham USA.

Matthew Hunt is the son of a banker and began his own career as a teller at age 17. He has remained in the industry ever since and now has more than 22 years of experience in commercial banking.

Matthew joined AVANA Capital in 2015 as Chief Credit Officer. He advises small business owners on how to grow their businesses through real estate ownership, and he guides them through the process.

Prior to joining AVANA Capital, Matthew was Senior Vice President and Director of National Real Estate for Zions Bank. In that role, he oversaw the bank’s nationwide commercial real estate lending platform with a primary focus in SBA 504 lending. During his 16 years at Zions Bank, the National Real Estate Group originated over $10 billion in commercial real estate loans, including nearly $5 billion in SBA 504 1st mortgage loans.

Matthew earned an M.B.A. from the University of Utah in 2010. He also graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from University of Utah in 1998. In 2005, he also completed a master’s level extension program at the University of Washington’s Pacific Coast Banking School.

Strategic Financial and Operations Leader with an impressive track record of driving success and transformation through effective utilization of people, processes and technology. Deep expertise in accounting, budgeting, financial modeling and analytics, controls, process and tax. Passionate about utilizing agile change methodologies for continuous improvement and developing a controlled, financially sound operating model. Excellent communication skills that capture the trust and confidence of both subordinates and fellow officers and inspire the entire team to deliver positive bottom-line results.

• Business Strategy and Leadership. C-Suite leader who provides data driven insight on business operations and finance through analytics and metrics. Chair of Management Committee driving business direction, finance, new business opportunities and M&A.
• Strong Controllership, Operations and Systems Mindset. CFO/COO with a demonstrated ability to drive significant impact on early stage to mature businesses, enhancing existing process, systems and people. Assess and control risk across the business, vendors and service providers. Identify and implement best in class capability at a global and private business level.
• Process Improvement Proficiency. Certified Black Belt in Six Sigma/ LEAN. Trained in redesign of processes to improve operating effectiveness. Led strategy for global process improvement and system implementations.
• Asset Management Leader. Deep experience across public and private asset classes in 40 Act and alternative funds. Innovative self-starter and architect for multiple fund launches across many jurisdictions.

Brianna joined Extensia Financial in June 2012, as the Human Resources Manager. She was specifically recruited for her experience with credit union practices and philosophy, her extensive knowledge of human resources as well as the history of Extensia Financial.

Since joining the Extensia team Brianna has proven herself to be an effective project manager successfully taking on a number of mission-critical projects over the past several years. These projects have ranged from planning, managing and completing the organization’s move of its corporate headquarters to management of the process to outsource IT as well as the implementation of Extensia’s paperless project.

During the last seven years she has taken on greater responsibility for the ongoing operations of the organization and customer care. She is currently responsible for loan servicing including portfolio management, Information Technology and Systems, marketing, human resources and facilities.
Brianna began her career in human resources in 2001 at Telesis Community Credit Union. Prior to joining the credit union, she completed an internship at Mercy Corps International where she focused on recruiting for this multi-national organization.

Brianna holds a BA in Human Resources from Concordia University in Portland, OR.

Mae Monnette Julian is a Certified Public Accountant with 5 years of work experience in external auditing of various industries such as investment houses, insurance brokerage, hotels, construction companies, automotive and has experience in handling large group audits which involved consolidation of almost 80 companies. At AVANA, Mae will oversee investor accounting process, implement policies and internal audit procedures on loans to ensure proper accounting of investor earnings and proper managing of investor funding. She will also be tasked to produce credit updates on existing loans.

Prior to joining AVANA, Mae worked as a Senior Auditor in Ernst & Young (EY) in which she led the team to audit financial statements in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards and International Standards on Auditing and led the discussion of audit issues to her clients. She had also been a part of EY Middle East and North Africa (MENA) where she was involved in the preparation of various technical materials as guidance for the auditors across the EY- MENA region and participated in the development of innovative solutions and digitalization of audit processes and data analytics.

Mae graduated as Magna Cum Laude from Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

Prasad is an accomplished Business Strategist, Technology Visionary and Management Consulting Leader with 20 years of experience focused on solving customers’ business challenges and building effective operational strategies. Having led over $500 mm of F500 customer programs, he has a proven track record of building investment strategies, managing large financial portfolios and transforming business services with global teams.

Shivan Perera joined AVANA Capital as a Business Development Officer in 2016 after obtaining his MBA in Global Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU. He specializes in CRE lending, risk management, and marketing to the commercial real estate community. He provides tailored SBA and conventional lending solutions to clients and conducts credit and financial prescreen on CRE ventures.

Shivan has experience in business development consulting in growth strategy for domestic and international SMEs. He leverages management experience from non-profit and financial sectors and has served as a consultant for multiple successful tech start-up companies. Shivan has a passion and expertise in entrepreneurship and commercial real estate.

Previously Shivan attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington and received a B.A in Organizational Psychology and a B.A. in Criminology with a focus in legal studies, and began his financial career in retail banking for Wells Fargo. He has since received extensive training in finance and management throughout his career.