We are thrilled to announce our participation in the upcoming Georgetown University Africa Business Conference (GTABC) this weekend.
We look forward to sharing our insights and expertise on Access to Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa with the attendees and learning from the diverse perspectives of the other speakers and participants.
Richard Lewis formed Financial Engineering Counselors, Ltd. (FEC) to enhance the counseling of small and medium-sized government contractors and commercial companies with their working capital requirements. FEC assists management by arranging for financing as well as working with the company’s management in compiling the required financial, accounting, and overview reports that lenders require. This has become crucial in today’s economic turmoil, where more lenders are more likely to say “Thank you, but NO thank you!”
For the previous six years, Richard was Vice President of Business Development at Wells Fargo Bank, Government Services Group, where he assisted fast-track companies/government contractors, 8(a), women, service-disabled veteran, Native American, and other minority-owned or disadvantaged companies that required financial support. In addition to working closely with a company’s management, Richard has been a featured speaker on “Financing Alternatives” at GovWorks (Department of Interior), SmartProc 2007, 2008, and 2010, National Black Chamber of Commerce’s and National Contract Management Association’s annual conferences, Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce, FAA’s Las Vegas Contractors Convention, Native American Reservation Economic Summit (RES), several Washington, DC, GovConectx events, as well as other organizations and events around the Country.
From 1990 to 2002, Richard was a CFO/CEO counselor to start-up, fast-growth technology, and service businesses needing assistance in financing alternatives, bank relations, strategic planning, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, and marketing. As CEO/CFO from 1985 to 1990, he initiated a “business plan only” Initial Public Offering for Virtusonics Corporation, a software development company, some 10 years ahead of the dot.com boom of the 1990s. He began his career in banking with A.J. Armstrong & Co. (ne: Bank of America Business Credit) in 1974. He moved to The Chase Manhattan Bank as Vice President of the Leveraged Acquisition Team to start its leverage buyout group in 1980, then to General Electric Capital Corporation as a marketing manager to help start an ABL financing vertical in the Retailer Finance Division.
Richard earned his B.S. degree in General Business and an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from New York University, Stern School of Business, where he was a scholarship student. He lives and works in suburban Washington, DC, where he is active in golf, bicycling, minority business support, community activities, and governmental issues.
Jennifer Schaus is a graduate of Towson State University. Jennifer has contributed to a variety of industries both domestically and internationally. She spent several years in the telecom industry (AT&T and MCI) in sales, sales training, and project management roles. In 1998, she engaged with the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (D&B) and moved into their Government Sales Division, gaining a greater understanding of the complexities of selling to the government. Her customers included mostly investigative agencies who leverage data to uncover money laundering, white-collar criminal activities, and other illegal transactions. Additional clients consisted of state/local governments, quasi-government agencies, multilateral banks, and non-profits. These organizations used database information for conducting due diligence on vendors and for marketing applications.
After September 11, 2001, there was a significant increase in companies obtaining GSA contracts under Schedule 84, Security & Law Enforcement Solutions. Focused on these trends, Jennifer Schaus successfully sold, and continues to provide, these types of Access Control and Security Solutions. She is well versed in direct sales to the end user, forging partnerships with system integrators, and identifying and assembling smaller related companies to provide a panoptic solution. Ms. Schaus is accomplished in establishing GSA Contracts — the integral contracting tool that businesses use to make their products and services available to the Government.
Additionally, Jennifer Schaus & Associates have worked to provide Financial Services for all types of industries. We strive to match growth companies in need of non-traditional funding with appropriate financial resources. This includes Venture Capital as well as various types of Accounts Receivable services.
Mr. Dordevic is the president of SALTUS LLC, a business advisory services company in Washington, DC, which offers consulting services to U.S. and foreign businesses that need to establish or expand their foreign operations and obtain necessary funding through federal government programs and/or traditional sources of capital.
Before starting his own business, Mr. Dordevic served as Vice President and Business Development and Federal Contracts Manager at Midland Loan Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of PNC Bank in Washington, DC. In that capacity, he led federal government business development efforts and oversaw activities related to the administration of federal contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Transportation TIFIA Program, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), encompassing portfolios of international and domestic loans with balances exceeding $30 billion.
Prior to the formation of the Government Services team in 2005 through PNC’s acquisition of Riggs Bank, Mr. Dordevic served for three years as an Assistant Manager and Vice President for Sovereign Trust Services, a division of Riggs Bank, which provided sovereign debt management, paying and transfer agency, and corporate trust services to U.S. government agencies, foreign governments, U.S. corporations, and international institutions.
Prior to joining Riggs, Mr. Dordevic served over seven years in progressively responsible positions in the fields of law, banking, and government. He served as an Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and as a Financial Analyst at the National Bank of Yugoslavia. Prior to that, he clerked at the District Court of Belgrade and was a Deputy Director of Legal Affairs at Vocarcoop, an export-import company in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Mr. Dordevic received his J.D. degree from the University of Belgrade Law School in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and his M.B.A. degree in Corporate Finance/International Business from Kogod School of Business, American University, in Washington, DC. He also received advanced certificates in Trust and Wealth Management from American Bankers Association’s National Trust School in Chicago, IL; in Banking and Finance from the University of Hertfordshire in England; in International Trade and Investment from European Institute in Athens, Greece; went through practical training programs in Derivatives Trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in Chicago, IL; in Investment Management at Merrill Lynch Private Client Division in Washington, DC; and in Investment Banking at Hamilton Capital Partners, an investment bank in Alexandria, VA.
Mr. Dordevic is the president of SALTUS LLC, a business advisory services company in Washington, DC, which offers consulting services to U.S. and foreign businesses that need to establish or expand their foreign operations and obtain necessary funding through federal government programs and/or traditional sources of capital.
Before starting his own business, Mr. Dordevic served as Vice President and Business Development and Federal Contracts Manager at Midland Loan Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of PNC Bank in Washington, DC. In that capacity, he led federal government business development efforts and oversaw activities related to the administration of federal contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Transportation TIFIA Program, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), encompassing portfolios of international and domestic loans with balances exceeding $30 billion.
Prior to the formation of the Government Services team in 2005 through PNC’s acquisition of Riggs Bank, Mr. Dordevic served for three years as an Assistant Manager and Vice President for Sovereign Trust Services, a division of Riggs Bank, which provided sovereign debt management, paying and transfer agency, and corporate trust services to U.S. government agencies, foreign governments, U.S. corporations, and international institutions.
Prior to joining Riggs, Mr. Dordevic served over seven years in progressively responsible positions in the fields of law, banking, and government. He served as an Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and as a Financial Analyst at the National Bank of Yugoslavia. Prior to that, he clerked at the District Court of Belgrade and was a Deputy Director of Legal Affairs at Vocarcoop, an export-import company in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Mr. Dordevic received his J.D. degree from the University of Belgrade Law School in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and his M.B.A. degree in Corporate Finance/International Business from Kogod School of Business, American University, in Washington, DC. He also received advanced certificates in Trust and Wealth Management from American Bankers Association’s National Trust School in Chicago, IL; in Banking and Finance from the University of Hertfordshire in England; in International Trade and Investment from European Institute in Athens, Greece; went through practical training programs in Derivatives Trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in Chicago, IL; in Investment Management at Merrill Lynch Private Client Division in Washington, DC; and in Investment Banking at Hamilton Capital Partners, an investment bank in Alexandria, VA.