Our People

Brian M. Smith

Managing Partner

Mr. Smith brings to LCG extensive experience in corporate finance, most notably in the areas of commercial credit, underwriting, and due diligence. Mr. Smith was most recently a Vice President of Textron Financial Corporation where he managed the structuring, underwriting, and due diligence processes for several operating divisions, including the Finance Company Services and Telecom and Energy Lending. The former, specialized in making loans to financial services firms and finance companies. There Mr. Smith completed numerous complex loans to a variety of finance businesses including asset-based lenders, factors, consumer lenders, retail lenders, and a myriad of other niche finance companies.

Mr. Smith was also appointed by executive management to lead portfolio and operations reviews of other divisions including Cessna Finance Company and TFC's resort, floor plan, and golf finance divisions. Prior, Mr. Smith was a principal and COO of Health Capital in New York; a company that specializes in providing financing to health care businesses nationwide. Early in his career he held various management positions with MediFin and Professional Factors in Tampa, Florida provided factoring, asset-based lending, and mezzanine financing. Mr. Smith was formerly the President of Association of Medical Finance Professionals and is a member of The University of Tampa’s Board of Counselors.

Mr. Smith holds Bachelors Degrees in Finance and Economics from the University of Tampa and has completed numerous industry-specific training programs. He is married with two children.

Paul I. Epstein

Managing Partner

Mr. Epstein is the Managing Partner and co-founder of LCG and is responsible for the day to day operations as well as sales and marketing.

Mr. Epstein has been instrumental in leading LCG to double digit growth for four straight years while implementing strict quality control measures. Under his leadership, Mr. Epstein has expanded LCG’s presence from Tampa, Florida to over 15 cities nationwide. In 2009, the Tampa Bay Business Journal listed LCG as #20 in their “Fast 50” Growing Companies list. In 2011, LCG was nominated by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce for the small business of the year award for the second time.

Prior to LCG, Mr. Epstein was the Executive Vice President of CitiFactors Financial Group, Inc. in Orlando, Florida where he was involved in developing CitiFactors into one of the leading niche commercial finance companies in the Southeast United States. He managed or was responsible for nearly all aspects of the business including the due diligence, client audits, account management, and operations. In addition to operational responsibilities, Mr. Epstein played a major role in the design and implementation of a sales and marketing plan. While sales increased, Mr. Epstein was able to maintain credit losses to negligible levels. He trained account executives and operations personnel in both credit policies and fraud detection.

Previously, Mr. Epstein was the Credit Manager at Professional Factor’s, Inc. and Healthcare Financial Services, Inc. in Tampa, Florida where he was responsible for credit policies, and asset recovery. Mr. Epstein earned his Bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Tampa.

Michael J. Szwejkowski, Jr.

Manager

Prior to joining LCG, Mr. Szwejkowski was with T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc., serving in both an operations management capacity and as a Compliance Manager in their Personal Services Group. Mr. Szwejkowski was responsible for monitoring employee and company compliance relative to company policy, SEC regulations, and other applicable securities laws. He oversaw a division that managed the compliance on over 800 accounts of high net worth clients located throughout the United States. Prior to his tenure at T. Rowe Price, Mr. Szwejkowski gained extensive credit knowledge as credit manager for Washington Mutual Finance, a division of Washington Mutual Bank. Duties included loan origination, credit evaluation and asset recovery. Mr. Szwejkowski holds a degree in Business Management from the University of Tampa as well as NASD Series, 6, 63, and 7 Securities licenses.

Nancy L. Foster

Manager

Ms. Foster is a Team Manager for Lender’s Consulting Group and is responsible for managing a team of examiners, examination reviews and quality assurance, liaising with clients as it pertains to managing examinations, and assisting in employee training and development. Ms. Foster has developed many client relationships over the last 30 years.

Prior to LCG, Ms. Foster was most recently the National Scheduling Manager of a due diligence outsource firm where she was responsible for the scheduling, quality assurance, and facilitation of examinations for multiple domestic and international lending institutions. She was also responsible for the day to day management of a team of examiners. Prior to that, Ms. Foster was a Senior Examiner with Jefferson Wells International’s Lender Services Division and Freed Maxick/BDO Seidman, leading large and more complex exams.

Ms. Foster is a licensed CFE and a member of the ACFE. She graduated from D’Youville College and currently resides in Columbus, OH.

Jeremy Pawelkiewicz

Vice President

Mr. Pawelkiewicz is currently a Vice President/Senior Examiner with LCG and responsible for working on more complex transactions as well as training junior associates.  Mr. Pawelkiewicz has performed field examinations in several countries on transactions up to $600MM.  Prior to joining LCG, Mr. Pawelkiewicz was with the Private Client Group at SunTrust Bank where he managed relationships with the bank’s highest net worth clients. In that capacity, he spearheaded a variety of financial projects for his clients including business capitalizations, asset management, and general advisory services. While he spent the majority of his career with SunTrust Bank, he gained extensive experience in retail and logistics management when he spent several years as a regional manager for the Pepsi Bottling Company.

Mr. Pawelkiewicz earned his B.A. and MBA in Finance from The University of Tampa.

Rick Wallace

Managing Director - Valuation Group

Rick is a seasoned financial services executive with over twelve years of experience performing business valuations. Most recently, Rick served as SVP and Valuation Director at Allied Capital, a multi-billion dollar private equity investor. In that capacity, he helped oversee the quarterly valuation of over 150 private equity and alternative asset investments. Rick’s work history also includes experience as a valuation consultant with global business advisory firm FTI Consulting and “big five” accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Rick has an undergraduate degree in economics from Colby College (including a year of study at the London School of Economics) and a Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest University School of Law. Rick’s professional affiliations include the American Society of Appraisers (through which he is an Accredited Senior Appraiser in Business Valuations), the CFA Institute and the North Carolina State Bar. Rick lives in suburban Washington, DC with his wife and two sons and enjoys skiing and fishing during his free time.