Here are some of the key players in this rapidly burgeoning industry.
Anthony has quickly established himself as one of the top crowdfunding experts in the country. In his legal practice as a transactional attorney, he represents securities issuers and crowdfunding platforms (including PeerRealty). He’s also an expert on both the JOBS Act and on the various intrastate crowdfunding exemptions. He originally drafted the Illinois crowdfunding legislation that passed unanimously in both houses of the state legislature – no small accomplishment in Illinois. Anthony regularly writes about crowdfunding legal issues on his Crowdfunding Legal Hub website and as a senior contributor to Crowdfund Insider.
Samuel is also one of the leading authorities on equity crowdfunding in the country. He regularly speaks on federal securities matters, including the ongoing implementation of the JOBS Act. In 2014 he was invited to lead a U.S. Small Business Administration Title III Investment Crowdfunding Roundtable. As the President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association, Samuel works on behalf of the crowdfunding industry before the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He also contributes to Crowdfund Insider as a Crowdfunding Counselor.
Are you noticing a trend here? It shouldn’t be surprising that so many leading industry figures are attorneys – the complexity of the regulatory thicket that crowdfunding platforms need to navigate demands legal expertise. With over 30 years of legal experience, Mark certainly qualifies on that score. His Crowdfund Attorney blog contains extremely thorough, user-friendly primers on Regulation A+ and Titie III, and Mark travels the country to speak at crowdfunding events.
Sara is the CEO and co-founder of Crowdcheck, which performs due diligence and compliance measures for alternative investment platforms. Another lawyer; Sara was formerly the General Counsel of the Congressional Oversight Panel, the overseer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). She regularly writes about the state of the crowdfunding industry and regulatory issues at the Crowdcheck blog.
Of course, we had to include someone from the real estate crowdfunding industry. Ian is the founder of the Real Estate Crowdfunding Review, a website that provides news and investment tutorials on the real estate crowdfunding industry. The site also attempts to add transparency to the industry by researching and ranking the top 100+ real estate crowdfunding platforms. Ian is an investor himself, and the content on the site is written from the perspective of an investor.
Founder
Georgia is the CEO and co-founder of iDisclose, a legal technology company that assists entrepreneurs in creating investment documents. She’s also a securities attorney who focuses her work on crowdfunding, and has presented before the SEC, the American Bar Association and congressional staff members. She regularly contributes to Crowdfund Insider on crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending issues.
and CEO, Exhedra Solutions, Inc.
Of course, we had to include someone from the real estate crowdfunding industry. Ian is the founder of the Real Estate Crowdfunding Review, a website that provides news and investment tutorials on the real estate crowdfunding industry. The site also attempts to add transparency to the industry by researching and ranking the top 100+ real estate crowdfunding platforms. Ian is an investor himself, and the content on the site is written from the perspective of an investor.
We’re talking about influencers, so it’s only appropriate that we include an active policymaker on our list. Several Congressmen and Congresswomen in both parties have been active in the debates over the JOBS Act and online capital formation, but Congressman McHenry may be the most actively involved of any of them. He authored the crowdfunding language that eventually became part of the JOBS Act, and has worked to lobby the SEC to swiftly and efficiently adopt the final JOBS Act rules. He recently introduced the Investment Crowdfunding Improvement Act, which explicitly exempts crowdfunded shareholders from potentially being forced to go public. To honor his work on behalf of the crowdfunding industry, Congressman McHenry has been invited to give a keynote address at next month’s 2015 CfPA Annual Summit.
Since we’re biased, we didn’t include our own CEO on the list, but he’s also extremely active in the crowdfunding community. He’s involved in the CfPA himself as its elected Treasurer, and he travels the country (and the world – he was in China just last month) to speak at industry events. You can read his crowdfunding articles right here at the PeerRealty blog. While there are many other great, knowledgeable people in the crowdfunding industry, following the seven influencers listed above is a great way to get started. If you’re interested in crowdfunding or crowdinvesting, follow them today!
