Growth Fuel: Lending for Small Business Success

Sandro Murtas is the Lead Export Finance Manager for the Office of International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Miami US Export Assistance Center covering Florida, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. Previously he was the Regional Manager in the New Orleans USEAC, Atlanta USEAC Tampa USEAC.

In addition, he was the Global Trade Specialist at Synovus Bank’s Government Guaranteed Lending Group covering Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Carolinas and Florida. Previous to joining SBA, he was the Director of the International Trade Center of the Puerto Rico Small Business & Technology Development Center. He chaired the Export Committee of Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association, from 2004 to 2011 organizing 14 trade missions to the Caribbean and Central America. In addition, he advised ALETI (Latin America Association of IT Clusters) and was part of regional meetings in Argentina and Colombia. In addition, he presented on the SBDC program to government entities in various Caribbean Countries in cooperation with the US Embassies in those countries.

He is a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) by the North America International Trade Educators (NASBITE), a Certified International Credit Professional by the Finance, Credit International Business Association (FCIB) and a Certified Global Credit Executive (CCE) by Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Peter Salas is head of SBA lending in Florida.  The SBA team specializes in providing custom SBA financing solutions to meet the unique needs of those small businesses across various sectors.

Peter brings over 35 years of lending and financial services experience with the past 10 years directly in SBA and franchise leadership roles.  Among his responsibilities in his current role, he oversees franchise financing, bank-wide franchise strategy and maintaining relationships with Brand executives.  Prior to joining Regions, Peter was the SBA division manager and Franchise executive at JPMorgan Chase.  He held bank-wide leadership roles and initiatives targeting minority, Hispanic and veteran-owned businesses.

Peter has been a board member and volunteers in chambers of commerce and nonprofit organizations helping small businesses.  He is a member of the International Franchise Association (IFA).  He attended Miami Dade College and resides in Tampa, Florida.