Our People
Mark S. Kelley
Managing Partner, CEO
Mark began his career in mortgage and investment banking 29 years ago upon graduation from University of Delaware, Newark DE with a degree in Economics. Working for a top investment banking group in the Mid Atlantic gave Mark the Wall Street exposure and contacts that were necessary to compete in today’s financial world. He has extensive postgraduate work at the University of Houston, Houston, TX and California Polytechnic, Pomona, CA in management and the banking field. Throughout his career Mark has successfully developed capital partner contacts in a variety of disciplines to include Insurance Companies, Pension Funds, Bank Consortiums, Investment Advisors and a wide array of private investors. Specifically, Mark worked in conjunction with Diawa Securities and a number of rating agencies to help roll out one of the first small balance commercial mortgage backed securities programs to have national exposure. This platform along with its extensive product mix pioneered the small balance commercial capital business model. Using the small balance theory Mark assembled a series of community and regional banks to act as a referral network for their clients requests for longer term fixed rate loan products and programs. As a result, the bank network reached almost 680 banks, Mark began to roll out other bank related products to use by the bank directly in the form of cash management services, asset disposition services and investment programs. That business model grew into a true financial services firm; AmVest which Mark successfully directed for eleven years and become a top-of-the-class company in the industry offering programs and services directly to bankers nationwide. His visionary approach became the blueprint for success with a product and advisory service mix which is offered to almost 900 banks nationally.
Working with banks and advising their clients created the momentum to fully integrate programs and products specific to the needs of real estate development and long term development deals. Mark has been personally involved in the new Urbanist movement, neo-traditional neighborhood design and TND mixed use apartment projects through out the South. Having the capital markets experience and bank networks made the financing the acquisition and the development of such projects more efficient. Mark is a licensed South Carolina Home builder and has been involved in over 250 construction projects.
Most recently, Mark is a founding partner of Fairchild US LLC, a financial advisory and alternative capital company focusing on offering its clientel cash management, and investment opportunities as well as investment positons in choice real estate projects. Fairchild also acts as a lending group, for such projects as well as a potentioal buyer for value added commercial real estate situations. Fairchild US expanded its service offerings to include balance sheet restructuring along with other investment solutions for the above target clients. In order to provide quality financial products Mark has assembled a team of professionals along with the technology necessary to allow access to products and services that improve the bottom line while enhancing stability. At Mark's direction, Fairchild US is poised to become a full service investment banking group using its defined network of banks, investors, private equity groups and high net worth clients to acquire and fund value added and opportunistic real estate including multi family housing urban infill housing, retail and office buildings on a national scope.